More than five years after fire ripped through the McKenzie River valley, Lane County commissioners toured the area Wednesday, Oct. 8, and heard residents and business owners share accounts of resiliency — and frustration.
After an afternoon of touring, the commissioners gathered in a school gymnasium in Blue River to hear testimony about the Holiday Farm Fire and its aftermath.
The 2020 fire scorched more than 173,000 acres, destroying 517 homes on a 20-mile stretch that includes Blue River and other unincorporated rural communities like Finn Rock, Nimrod and Vida…