Before the Independence Day weekend, the town of Kerby, Oregon hadn’t yet seen temperatures in the 100s this year.

Today it’s 106. It’s Sunday, July 7, 2024.

Silvia Ceron, a social service emergency liaison for the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) Office of Resilience and Emergency Management (OREM), is in Kerby. Even one day before Governor Tina Kotek’s Friday, July 5, declaration of an extreme heat emergency, Ceron is one of dozens of OREM staff who have mobilized to support Oregonians in need. With temperatures forecast to break 100 every day for a week starting July 4, the need is clear.

That need includes setting up a cooling center in the heart of Josephine County. It’s a kind of “pop-up,” where Ceron, her team and volunteers bring cold water, snacks and kindness to a local – and air-conditioned – community space so people can get out of the heat.

Ceron, the Boys and Girls Club of Kerby, Immanuel United Methodist Church, AllCare, City of Cave Junction and other community leaders worked together to open this cooling center and provide cooling supplies to the public.

Ceron expects today to be like the others: constant. The temperature certainly is. On Thursday it was 102, Friday 106, and Saturday 110. And after a slower start today, the number of visitors will be, too.

When Vernon rides in on his bicycle at 2:15 p.m. the center has already been open for three hours. It’s with Steve and Kara’s arrival just before 3 p.m., however, a steady stream of people has begun that will last throughout the day. They, like some of those who will come today, were here yesterday.

“Well, hello, Kara and Steve!” Ceron says holding open the door to the shelter. It’s more than a courtesy. In the heat, the outside silver door handle is already burning hot to the touch. “Did you finish coloring all those coloring books?” She hasn’t. But they still helped her take her mind off the heat last night, Kara says.

They’re living in a two-decade-old 30-foot trailer. Unable to connect their trailer home to electricity, their home is like an oven. Until recently, they’d at least been able to cool off in the river. But even that relief is gone.

“We were out there at $8 Mountain, and at least we could go to the river. But there’s a 14-day limit on BLM land, and we overstayed that,” Steve says. “The Ranger was pretty cool, though. He said, ‘Yeah, you gotta go away, but I’ll give you a few extra days,’ or whatever, you know.” His voice trails off as he talks about another spot they’ve found, but will have to leave soon.

Steve and Kara came to Kerby, about two-thirds of the way from Grants Pass to Crescent City, from Las Vegas. They came to join his brother who was living in neighboring Jackson County. Things fell apart, however. Past history and the death of a family dog proved too much, and they had to find another place to stay.

Between land-use and RV park regulations, and the cost of renting a trailer space, and miscommunications with his bank in Las Vegas, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land just east of Cave Junction is where they’ve had to call home for the time being. Steve doesn’t know how long it will be until he can access their money. He did, however, think they’d left the heat in Las Vegas.

“The air conditioner in the trailer can’t exactly keep up with this, and I have no money to plug it in,” he says. “We’re up there with no power, no water.”

Vernon, sitting next to them, is also familiar with BLM land regulations. Living with only what he can carry and riding a bicycle, however, makes some things easier. “It’s fine with a tent,” he says. “As long as you move around and clean things up, they don’t even care.” He’s also familiar with the heat.

“It was like a hundred and something degrees yesterday, maybe 110,” he said, peeling a tangerine given to him at the center. “I walked, I guess, about 13 miles from Grants Pass, and somebody finally gave me a ride around three o’clock.” From there, at the summit of Hayes Hill, they got him back to his tent and bike, just outside Selma.

He’s only here today because he saw the handmade sign out front: “Cooling Center.” It’s one of many placed in both Kerby and nearby Cave Junction. Without these signs and the community sharing information on social media, area residents wouldn’t know the cooling center is there.

The advertising efforts are obviously working. By the end of the day, the number of visitors will break into the double-digits. The temperature, however, shows no signs of getting back to that number.

Ceron and a volunteer head for Cave Junction. She’s leaving Griselda Rodriguez, a disaster case manager for OREM, and other volunteers in charge. Like Ceron, Rodriguez canceled her holiday plans with family in Medford, and has spent all four days of the holiday here, about an hour west of home.

She’s looking for people in Cave Junction who can’t make it to Kerby. Without a car - or a bicycle - the two-plus mile walk in the heat is just too much. Having put some water in a cooler, and a few high-energy snacks in the car, she’s bringing relief to them. She’s been doing this from the first day, and she knows where to find those trying to get out of the heat.

In front of a thrift store she runs into Josh, a Green Bay Packers fan. He’s laughing with the thought that this is the wrong weather in which to be a cheesehead. “More like fondue,” he says. In between the jokes, however, he offers Ceron a sincere “Thank you. God bless you.”

Ceron’s next stop are the town’s two supermarkets. Right next to each other, one offers shade in the building’s shadow. There’s nearly a dozen people here, some with dogs. She and the volunteer offer water and snacks to all of them.

A half hour later the back of Ceron’s ODHS Ford Explorer still has some bottled water, ice and more snacks. She’s hoping it will be enough for a few more stops in town that day. But thanks to the generous community, she knows she can restock her supplies tomorrow if needed. She heads next for Jubilee Park, just a few hundred yards away on the other side of Highway 199.

Even two miles from the cooling center in Kerby, some of the people she’s connected with in Cave Junction since Thursday already know her name. “Yes, Silvia, we’re OK,” says Terry as Ceron pulls up next to his car. He’s a long-time local resident who’s been living in his car with his five cats since his mother died last year.

Today is the third day they’ve connected, as they will again the next three days. Ceron is proud of the work she, her team and the community have done. “I think about all the people we've met. We've been out here for just three days and they already know who we are.”

By 6:30 p.m. Ceron is back at the cooling center in Kerby. Steve and Kara are still here, and a half-dozen others, too. Some of them are returning to the shelter from the previous day. Vernon, has already come and gone again. Before he left, Rodriguez gave him the center’s recyclables as a birthday present.

In total, a dozen people will have spent time at the center today. They’re part of the 28 visits to the center since July 4, half of them individuals who’ve visited a day or more. Some like Vernon have no permanent structure to call home, while others simply have no air conditioning, like Steve and Kara.

The last person to sign in is Kira, and her dog, Bisco, at 7:05 p.m. The home where she’s staying also is without air conditioning. Told the center will be open less than an hour, that’s OK with her. She just needs a few minutes to cool down before she heads home. Up until now, she and her dog have been trying to stay cool in the nearby Holton Creek.

“Even trying to be in the river, eventually it almost seems hotter,” she says, as Bisco laps from a bowl of water. “With the sun reflecting off the water, it made it hard to find a shady spot, even under the trees.”

Soon, however, Kira has to go, as do the other half-dozen people still inside. Taking a few more bottles of cold water and some snacks, Ceron, Rodriguez and volunteers watch them go before locking the door behind them. Ceron hopes to see them again tomorrow, as she does Terry, Tasha and Josh. “I really do feel like we've done some work,” she says. “But there's so much more to be done. The community really came together today to keep people cool and safe.”

The temperature is 105 degrees.