The Nugget
Vol. XLIII No. 38
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Sisters firefighters help save homes
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
When homes and busi-
nesses are under threat from
wildfire, firefighters mobi-
lize across the state to help.
Sisters firefighters David
Ward and Emily Spognard
were part of Central Oregon
Task Force 2 that rolled
out on the afternoon of
September 9 to assist with
structure protection opera-
tions in Santiam Canyon,
where fire driven by heavy
winds out of the east had
ripped through the Highway
22 corridor.
The task force included
firefighters from Crook and
Jefferson counties, Black
Butte Ranch, Redmond and
Bend. Spognard and Ward
manned a small Type 6 brush
engine and were assigned to
stage in Idanha, where they
linked up with a crew of
Prineville Hotshots.
<Our primary goal was
just structure protection,=
Ward explained. <And then
if there were some spot fires
that were getting tossed
around, extinguish those.=
Ward said that debris
from the heavy winds lit-
tered the highway before
they hit the fire zone.
<We had to cut a cou-
ple of trees out of the way,
<Ward said.
Then they started seeing
melted powerlines and poles
on fire. Smoke became dense
and visibility dropped. Once
they arrived, it was clear that
<fire was definitely coming
down toward Idanha.=
The firefighters con-
ducted burnout operations
to create firebreaks around
structures. They were aided
by one bit of good fortune:
<Idanha still had working
fire hydrants, we were able
to be liberal with water,= he
said.
Their operations were
successful.
<We didn9t lose any struc-
tures in Idanha while we
were there,= Ward said.
Detroit was in much
Our primary goal was just structure protection,
and then if there were some spot fires that
were getting tossed around, extinguish those.
— David Ward
Sisters Woodlands
wins first approval
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
The first step in the
long process of developing
the middle section of the
Forest Service property has
been taken. On Thursday,
the Sisters Planning
Commission approved 4
with conditions 4 a request
by developers for a rezone
from Public Facilities to
Multi-Family Residential.
Five commissioners voted in
favor and one abstained. The
area is now called Sisters
Woodlands.
There are no develop-
ment plans yet, although
the applicants and their rep-
resentatives offered some
possible scenarios they are
Inside...
considering.
The applicant9s land use
planner, Tammy Wisco,
painted a picture for the
commissioners of the pos-
sible development, with 25
acres of workforce housing
made up of cottages, town
homes, and multi-family
units in the interior of the
property. She called it a
true community that will be
walkable and bikeable.
The staff report presented
by Senior Planner Nicole
Mardell recommended
approval with conditions to
the City Council for amend-
ments to the Comprehensive
Plan Map and Zoning Map
to redesignate and rezone
See WOODLANDS on page 28
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Felling the
wrong tree
can be
costly
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
saving homes.
But Ward acknowledged
that the area was very hard
hit.
Damage was <pretty
extensive,= he said.
<Definitely it catastrophi-
cally impacted the town.=
On May 7, Sisters lost a
130-year-old healthy ponder-
osa pine tree, measuring 100
feet tall with a diameter of 39
inches. It had been here since
before Sisters was settled.
The tree stood in the City-
owned right-of-way on South
Larch Street and, therefore,
was the property of the City
of Sisters. The adjacent prop-
erty owner had previously
approached the City about
removing the tree because
the needles were dropping
into his yard. The permission
from the City was denied.
The homeowner at 425
E. Washington Ave., and
the tree service employed
to remove the mature pon-
derosa, were presented with
demand letters from the City
on June 8, concerning the
timber trespass committed by
them. The amount demanded
by the City was $26,865.
Cascade Tree Works
See FIREFIGHTERS on page 14
See TREE CUTTING on page 29
PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS-CAMP SHERMAN RFPD
Central Oregon firefighters deployed to some of the areas hit hardest by
last week’s catastrophic fires.
tougher shape, Ward said.
Smoke was very dense.
<It got to the point where
you couldn9t see 15 feet in
front of your bumper,= he
said.
Fire crews spotted
smoke coming out of base-
ments of homes and stopped
and extinguished fires,
Smoke created dire air quality locally
By Reecy Pontiff
Correspondent
The hazardous air quality
in Sisters 4 and much of the
western U.S. 4 over the past
week has been apparent from
the permanent haze across
town.
When the Air Quality
Index (AQI) is rated as
hazardous or unhealthy,
<everybody should be stay-
ing indoors as much as pos-
sible= said Laura Gleim,
spokesperson for the Oregon
Department of Environmental
Quality. <Folks that are at the
most risk are people who are
over 65, young children, and
people with heart and lung
conditions.=
Even people without pre-
existing conditions can feel
the effects of wildfire smoke.
Symptoms may include
PHOTO BY REECY PONTIFF
Sisters had the worst air quality in the world at times during the past
week, according to the Air Quality Index. Air quality was expected to
improve through this week.
respiratory and sinus issues,
headache, burning eyes,
scratchy throat, increased
heart rate and even fatigue,
according to the Center for
Disease Control (CDC).
A high-efficiency particu-
late air (HEPA) filter can help
with indoor air quality, as can
running air conditioning with
See SMOKE on page 31
Letters/Weather ............... 2 Hike .................................. 8 Entertainment ................. 11 Of a Certain Age ..........18-25 Classifieds ................. 26-28
Meetings .......................... 3 Announcements ...............10 State of the City .......... 16-17 Crossword ...................... 25 Real Estate ................ 28-32