An outdoor cooling station serves people living along Hunnell Road during a heat wave in Bend on June 28, 2021.
Colleen Thomas / Deschutes County / Colleen Thomas / Deschutes County
Over the weekend, two men were found dead along the same stretch of road used by unhoused campers in Bend. The causes of the deaths could not be confirmed, but service providers for the unhoused community suspect heat may have played a role.
The deaths came as Bend city officials declared a state of emergency in response to the heat wave across the Northwest.
Bend Police officers responded Sunday to two separate reports of “unattended deaths” on Hunnell Road, according to a department spokesperson. The road is home to scores of people living without running water or power, in recreational vehicles, tents or under tarps. In a Monday statement, Bend Police Lt. Juli McConkey said suspicious criminal activity was not suspected in either death, and the department would not be providing further details.
Cultivate Initiatives co-director Y’Ishia Rosborough of Portland cools off with dog “Hades” at a cooling station put on by Cultivate Initiatives at Sunrise Center in Portland, June 28, 2021. Currently the center plans to remain open until Wednesday at 9 AM.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
An unnamed man slumps over a garbage can as the temperature rises to over 110 degrees in Portland, June 28, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Christy Wilding of Portland stayed overnight with her two dogs at a cooling center at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, June 28, 2021. The cooling center provided water, snacks, meals, blankets, and cots or mats for sleeping.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Hundreds have sought shelter at a cooling center at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, June 28, 2021. The cooling center provided water, snacks, meals, blankets, and cots or mats for sleeping.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Johnny Daniels of Portland cools off in the Ira Keller Fountain Park, June 28, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Stella Hartfield, 17, left, and her boyfriend Orion Crofut, 19, both of Lake Oswego, took to the Willamette River in Portland to cool off, June 28, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Scott Steben rests with their cat “Rockit” at a cooling center operated by Cultivate Initiatives at Sunrise Center in Portland, June 28, 2021. Steben’s apartment does not have air conditioning and struggled last night with the heat. Currently the center plans to remain open until Wednesday at 9 AM.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Rob Medeiros of Portland cools off by jumping through a sprinkler set up at a cooling station put on by Cultivate Initiatives at Sunrise Center in Portland, June 28, 2021. The pet-friendly center has food, showers, basic health screening, and a safe place for people to wait out the heat. Currently the center plans to remain open until Wednesday at 9 AM.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Hundreds have sought shelter at a cooling center at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, June 28, 2021. The cooling center provided water, snacks, meals, blankets, and cots or mats for sleeping.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Calamity Payne, left, is a little emotional after arriving at the cooling center at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, June 28, 2021. Payne and Daniel Gestri met at a Portland library today, where they had sought respite from the heat along with their rabbits, but had to move on to the convention center where pets were allowed.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Children play in the fountain at the Portland Water front as the temperature rises to more than 100 degrees fahrenheit
Hanin Najjar
Dozens of people sat and played in the Ira Keller Fountain Park in Portland, June 28, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A thermometer reads 113 degrees in Rhododendron, Ore., June 28, 2021.
Kami Horton / OPB
Construction workers near the 1000 block of NW Lovejoy Street, June 28, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Only a handful of people were on dock south of the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, finding a little respite from the heat by hanging out near the Willamette River, June 28, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Carl W. (no last name given) of Portland stayed overnight at a cooling center at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, June 28, 2021, after his air conditioning went out in his home. The cooling center provided water, snacks, meals, blankets, and cots or mats for sleeping.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
People float the Deschutes River through Bend, Ore., in the shadow of Mount Bachelor Friday, June 25, 2021. Weekend temperatures were forecast to reach nearly 110 degrees.
Bradley W. Parks / OPB
Dust rises from the dry bed of Summer Lake, north of Paisley, Ore., June 28, 2021.
Bradley W. Parks / OPB
“Rico” tries to stay cool in Beavercreek Ore., June 28, 2021. Many pet owners have struggled to keep their animals from overheating during the heat wave.
Anne Ibach / OPB
The last names and ages of the deceased men could not immediately be confirmed. Witnesses described one of the men as elderly, and said he went by Joe. Joe used a wheelchair, and reportedly was living without shelter.
Another man, who went by Lonnie, was found Sunday afternoon in an un-airconditioned RV, according to a witness at the scene.
Luke Richter said he was volunteering to support an outdoor cooling shelter on Hunnell Road Sunday afternoon when someone discovered a body inside a camper. Richter said he stepped into the trailer to see if there was anything he could do.
“It was very obviously too late. It was basically a microwave in there,” Richter said.
Richter said half an hour later, he and other volunteers took another Hunnell resident to the hospital with symptoms of heat-related illness.
By Monday morning, aid to the Hunnell Road site had grown, said Colleen Thomas, homeless services coordinator at Deschutes County Behavioral Health. As temperatures were forecast to climb to 107 degrees, the City of Bend provided tents with misters, she said.
“It’s a huge collective group right now,” she said. “We are making sure folks have access to water, electrolytes, food and sunscreen.”
Thomas estimates between 80 and 100 people live on Hunnell Road. There are indoor emergency cooling shelters now available in Bend, Redmond, Madras and Prineville. But, barriers can keep people from taking refuge at official sites, she said
“Whether that is fear of someone stealing their things or … of leaving the safety and security of places that they call home,” Thomas said. “People here really rely on one another and it’s the family that they create. There’s this sense of not wanting to leave anybody behind.”
Access to transportation is also a challenge, said Morgan Schmidt, a pastor with First Presbyterian Church in Bend. The church is one of several places in Bend hosting shelters during day time hours this week.
Schmidt said she met one of the men who died over the weekend, when he stayed at the church to escape wildfire smoke last year.
“Joe was a sweetheart,” she said. “It was just clear that life was not kind to Joe and that he persevered through more than any person should ever have to.”
Schmidt said whether or not heat was the sole cause in either death, the losses of life are a call to action.
“Everybody deserves to be in a safe, stable place and to receive care. This continues, in a very somber way, to highlight the pain our community has for safe, stable, and ongoing housing of all kinds.”
Daily high temperatures in Bend are forecast to remain at or near 100 degrees through Friday.
City officials on Monday declared a local state of emergency related to the heat.
“The emergency order includes mobilizing city resources to provide support services to unhoused community members and the immediate ban on the use of all fireworks — legal or illegal — within the city of Bend,” the city said in a statement.
The emergency will remain in effect through July 9. The city said even though it was banning fireworks through the Fourth of July holiday, professional fireworks shows already scheduled in the city would proceed.