Editor’s note: Five years ago this month, the Holiday Farm Firm ripped through the McKenzie Valley, destroying hundreds of homes and leaving enduring scars — physical, psychological and on the land itself. This is the first in a series of Lookout Eugene-Springfield stories examining the fire and its aftermath.
Melanie Stanley lost her home and her Blue River general store in the Holiday Farm Fire.
Stanley, 47, is among those who have rebuilt their houses after the 2020 fire swept through the McKenzie Valley, burning more than 173,000 acres and destroying 517 homes on a 20-mile stretch that includes Blue River and other unincorporated rural communities like Finn Rock, Nimrod and Vida…