PORTLAND, Ore. — A mobile home park destroyed during the devastating Labor Day wildfires of 2020 is soon to be rebuilt, nearly four years later.
The Holiday Farm Fire leveled Lazy Days Mobile Home & RV Park near the McKenzie River community of Blue River, displacing dozens of families.
As part of a wildfire recovery project, around 20 new modular homes are expected to be delivered to the community this fall.
On Monday, Governor Tina Kotek toured the modular homes factory at Blazer Industries in Aumsville. The factory is one of four businesses to receive a grant from the Modular Housing Development Fund aimed at combating Oregon's housing shortage.
“What’s really important about what (Blazer) is doing here is we’re making homes in Oregon to go to communities that need them," Kotek said. "And, they are really wonderful homes. The ability of this company to ramp up to do it is very impressive and the state is walking side-by-side as a partner to make sure they can do it on a regular basis, because that’s what we need across the whole state.”
With $5 million in funding, Blazer projects that they will be able to boost production by approximately 50 to 100 additional residential homes per year, to a total of 250 to 300 per year, Kotek's office said. And, wildfire disaster recovery units are intended to be the priority.
The project to rebuild Lazy Days Mobile Home & RV Park includes the modular homes, 10 RV spots and a community building. It received nearly $10 million in funding from the Oregon Legislature in 2021.
Once complete, the modular homes will be placed on trucks and brought to the mobile home site.
Kotek said wildfire recovery can be challenging and complex. But, her hope is to get more in front of the recovery efforts.
"Of the things for this year’s fire season that I’ve been talking about right now is we’re fighting fires, but the recovery process starts now; collecting names and figuring out what people need," Kotek said. "So, when we can totally switch to recovery, we will be better prepared because people can’t wait, and we have to do it faster here. Unfortunately, we’re going to see wildfire after wildfire seasons. We have to do recovery quicker and better than what we have been doing."