By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Wildfires in Oregon this August and September have caused extensive damage and air quality issues in the state and surrounding areas, including at a Benedictine abbey and seminary with Hawaii ties.
Three wildfire hotspots burning in the Willamette Valley threatened Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary in Western Oregon in mid-September.
Diocese of Honolulu seminarians who do not already have an undergraduate degree attend Mount Angel Seminary to receive a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Taylor K. Mitchell and Edgar Allen Pobre are the two seminarians currently studying there.
The Beachie Creek, Riverside and Lionshead fires burning just west of Mount Angel turned the skies around the abbey various shades of orange and red and drove the Benedictine monks and students inside due to bad air quality.
Altogether, those fires have burned more than 535,000 acres and destroyed more than 4,800 structures as of Sept. 28. Firefighters don’t expect to fully contain the fires until the end of October though recent rains have helped tamp down the blazes, some of which were caused by lightning.
A spokesperson at Mount Angel told the Hawaii Catholic Herald in a message that the seminary and abbey had been on a Level 2 “Be Set” to evacuate notice starting on Sept. 9, which lasted for a few days. That was later lowered to a Level 1 status because of improving weather and firefighting efforts to contain the nearby fires.
“Fortunately, we did not have to evacuate, but for close to a week the air quality was extremely poor due to smoke,” the spokesperson said. “The monks and seminarians were able to remain in place and continue to pray for the thousands of people in this part of Oregon whose lives have been so impacted.”
*Taylor Mitchell’s name was inadvertently reversed in our print edition. We apologize for the error.
