What’s It Like to Flee a Wildfire? It Sucks.

WW presents "Distant Voices," a daily video interview for the era of social distancing. Our reporters are asking Portlanders what they're doing during quarantine.

Since the pandemic began, we've been conducting daily video interviews with Oregonians cooped up in their homes.

This one, with Tom Baldwin, is a little different. Baldwin was driven out of his house by fire.

Baldwin lives in the small Clackamas County town of Colton. This month, the Riverside Fire sped over the mountains toward his home—and drove Baldwin to an evacuation site at the confluence of the Willamette and Clackamas rivers.

Correspondent Alex Wittwer talked to Baldwin in Clackamette Park on Sept. 11. He described what life in the park was like, the generosity of strangers, and how long he expects such kindness to last.