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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 2020)
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2020 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK Volunteer recruitment gets unexpected boost Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Two months in, Marcus Andrews’ job became much more difficult. Hired in January through a FEMA grant to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters for the fire depart- ments in Stayton and Sublimity, Andrews was formu- lating an aggressive plan for hitting every community event in the two cities. Then everything was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even his backup plan for slow days of standing in front of stores like Safeway, Roth’s and Ace Hardware to hand out fliers and talk with people was no longer viable. But since the start of the year, around a dozen peo- ple from the communities have showed interest in be- coming volunteer firefighters through a combination of social media outreach and the desire to help in a time of crisis. “Fortunately for us, what we found is there is a number of people in the community who either have past experience or are interested in being a volunteer and with the coronavirus stuff, they wanted to find a way to help,” Sublimity Fire Chief Alan Hume said. Need for volunteer firefighters Rural fire districts like Stayton and Sublimity rely on volunteer firefighters for about 90% of their crews, and many have seen their pools of volunteers shrink in recent years. With Andrews largely handcuffed to a desk at the Stayton Fire District the past four months, he has had to get creative to draw in potentials, using means like social media to reach people who are largely trapped in See RECRUITMENT, Page 3A Stayton Fire District Chief Jack Carriger, left, and Assistant Chief Jay Alley discuss an approaching hot-weather weekend. Before them are two of the district's new apparatuses, a command vehicle in the foreground and wild-land fire-fighting rig next to Carriger. JUSTIN MUCH | STAYTON MAIL INVESTIGATION Terwilliger Fire was human caused Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Elisha and Joshua Nightingale outside of their restaurant, Cast Iron Cafe, in Mt. Angel. CATHY CHENEY / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL A Mt. Angel cafe is reborn, twice Cathy Cheney Special to Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Just a few miles into Silverton on North Water Street, Joshua Nightingale and his wife, Elisha, were finally living out their dream of owning and operating a coffee house. For over three years, Live Local Cafe has become a downtown staple, always bustling as part of the heart and soul of this community. Think “Cheers” only in a coffee shop. Such success sparked an idea: Why have one suc- cess when you can have two? So when a building opened up in Mt. Angel, Nightingale pounced on the opportunity. The couple brought in former chef of Oregon Gar- dens, Michael Guerrero, to run a menu of “comfort food with a modern twist” while the restaurant as a whole would have a “classic and rustic feel.” By the end of 2019, Cast Iron Cafe was born -- open and ready for business. Success was at the tangible horizon - and then the pandemic happened. As of March 15th, 2020, all restaurants were man- dated to close indoor dining; devastation to any busi- ness owner, but especially those burgeoning into adulthood like Cast Iron Cafe. The Nightingales tried to stay open, using a drive-through window for pick- up orders, but after only a few days in Cast Iron be- came another COVID-19 casualty. “It was a very hard decision, but after analyzing the high costs of reopening we decided to close for good,” Nightingale said. Burger Time, a longstanding trade- mark of Mt. Angel, closed its doors due to the man- date. And then, the community stepped in. “The community came and (asked), ‘How can we See CAFE, Page 3A UO working on less invasive testing in Marion County Saliva samples would be used rather than nose swabs Jordyn Brown The Register-Guard The University of Oregon is in the samples-gather- ing phase of developing a new, less invasive COVID-19 test to increase testing capacity in Lane County and other communities, while making it more accessible to everyone. UO’s COVID-19 Monitoring and Assessment Pro- gram is developing a test that would rely on saliva samples instead of the more common tests from swabs in the nose and throat. “Many other institutions and facilities across the U.S. now are looking for ways to validate and use sali- News updates: ❚ Breaking news ❚ Get updates from the Silverton area Photos: ❚ Photo galleries See FIRE, Page 4A va because it is just much less invasive, it will end up ultimately costing much less and I think it will allow us to offer more equality in terms of access to testing,” Leslie Leve, UO’s associate vice president for re- search, said during an online information session in late June. The hope is that by creating a simpler method in which a person only has to spit into a sample tube, it will make access more equitable because it would not require a health care professional to perform the test such as using the nose swab. Once the project is authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, UO anticipates it will be able to process up to 5,000 tests a day. But there are more steps to take. First, UO needs to get an emergency-use authori- See TESTING, Page 2A Vol. 139, No. 31 Online at SilvertonAppeal.com Terwilliger Hot Springs is a different place than it was two years ago. Once shaded by emerald forest and an old-growth canopy, the trail and iconic hot springs pools east of Eugene are now singed with black and brownish trees, the ground barren, and the forest open and hot. “It’s just a very different place,” said Darren Cross, McKenzie River district ranger for the U.S. Forest Ser- vice. “We still have dead trees coming down. The un- derstory vegetation hasn’t really returned yet. It feels a lot more exposed. People still love it, but it’s a differ- ent experience.” Terwilliger, also known as Cougar Hot Springs, was transformed by one of the largest and scariest wildfires of 2018 — an an inferno that sparked sud- denly on a dry August day and trapped 20 people be- hind a wall of flames. “We were just soaking and having a great time, when all of a sudden somebody came running up the trail and said, ‘Hey, there’s a fire and you need to evacuate,’” Robert Noble, who lives in Springfield, told the Statesman Journal in 2018. “We just started running. The fire had just started to cross the path when we got there. We put our towels over our noses and mouths and ran through the flames that were four to six feet tall. “It was like a movie.” Everyone escaped unharmed, but the fire roared up the ridge and spit flaming embers a quarter-mile across Cougar Reservoir, igniting a second wildfire and would fuel a blaze that burned 11,555 acres, cost $40 million and closed the hot springs for 10 months. The Forest Service, which managed the wildfire and forest, said previously the fire was human- caused, but didn’t release the investigation report for almost two years, citing an “ongoing investigation.” The Statesman Journal obtained the report after numerous requests under the Freedom of Informa- tion Act, although all names, many places and some details were redacted. In it, fire investigators described how the wildfire was born from a burning stump at a popular party spot, escaped attempts to put it out with a fire ex- tinguisher and bottled water, and eventually roared out of control. Serving the Silverton Area Since 1880 A Unique Edition of the Statesman Journal QEAJAB-07403y ©2020 50 cents Printed on recycled paper The Terwilliger Fire grew rapidly on Wednesday near Cougar Reservoir. US FOREST SERVICE