WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2020 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Oregon senators introduce bill to stop power line ﬁres
Zach Urness
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
In the wake of a historic wildﬁre season blamed in
part on downed power lines, Oregon’s two U.S. sena-
tors introduced legislation Tuesday to “reduce the risk
of ﬁre through power system upgrades.”
The “Wildﬁre Resilient Power Grid Act of 2020”
would help fund ﬁre safety equipment installation and
proper vegetation management, according to senators
Ron Wyden and Jeﬀ Merkley, who authored the bill.
“Fire after ﬁre ignited this summer because the ag-
ing power grid could not withstand a major windstorm
during the season’s hottest and driest days,” Wyden
said. “Many utility companies are already working to
improve the resiliency of their power grid, but the sheer
costs of these investments must not come at the ex-
pense of rural utility customers. Congress must do all
that it can to stop the catastrophic wildﬁres decimating
the West, and that means improving rural infrastruc-
On the night of Sept. 7, downed power lines ignited
a ﬁre at the Gates School and former Beachie Creek
Fire incident command team post. PHOTO COURTESY OF
INCIWEB / US FOREST SERVICE
ture. By partnering with utilities around the country,
we can increase wildﬁre mitigation eﬀorts at a modest
cost — a ﬁre prevention investment that will pay divi-
dends by saving lives, homes and businesses.“
The legislation does not require utilities to shut
down power in cases of extreme ﬁre danger — some-
thing that had been pushed for after a mixed response
from utilities during the Labor Day windstorm. Some
utilities did shut down power in response to the “ex-
tremely critical” ﬁre danger the night of Sept. 7, while
others, including Paciﬁc Power, did not.
The wildﬁres that ravaged the Santiam Canyon are
believed to have been caused by a combination of wild-
ﬁres growing out of the Mount Jeﬀerson and Opal
Creek wilderness, combined with downed power lines
that ignited on high winds within towns much closer to
Detroit, Gates and Mill City.
Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron said
he supported the legislation.
“The improvements resulting from Senator Wyden
and Merkley’s bill will reduce disasters in the future,
but improve everyday reliability for our citizens who
See FIRES, Page 2A
Silverton
ﬁreﬁghters
exposed to
COVID-19
Virginia Barreda and Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Fireﬁghter paramedic Grayson Engels-Smith performs a check on an engine on Wednesday at Marion
County Fire District No. 1 in Salem. The district has made large budget cuts after two of its operational
levies failed in the past two elections. ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL
Marion County ﬁre
to lay oﬀ ﬁreﬁghters
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Months after helping ﬁght the worst wildﬁres in
Oregon history, nine ﬁreﬁghters from Marion County
Fire District No. 1 will be laid oﬀ.
After voters rejected the second operations levy in
as many elections, the ﬁre district that covers 55,000
people over 80 square miles of Marion County was
forced to cut $2.4 million from its $19.7 million budget.
Marion County Fire District No. 1 laid oﬀ three ﬁre-
ﬁghters after the ﬁrst levy failed in May – the ﬁrst one
it ever had that failed – and will trim its staﬀ to 41 peo-
ple, including 32 in operations as ﬁreﬁghters or para-
medics, after failing again in the Nov. 3 election.
“It’s the toughest thing that I’ve had to do in my ﬁre
service career,” Marion County Fire District No. 1 chief
Kyle McMann said. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep since May
knowing that we lost a levy for the ﬁrst time in our
history.”
The department also will close stations in Macleay
and Labish Center by removing furniture and trans-
ferring staﬀ to other stations. Additionally, the Four
Corners and Chemeketa/Middle Grove Stations will
have their staﬃng reduced.
McMann said the remaining ﬁreﬁghters had to ac-
cept cuts to wages through furlough days and health
care beneﬁts.
He said the cuts will result in longer response times
on some calls and a reduced ability to ﬁght ﬁres in
some remote areas.
Wildﬁres put spotlight on district
The Labor Day wildﬁres illustrated the role Marion
County Fire District No. 1 plays in the county.
Though the district mostly covers rural areas, it
also backs up other ﬁre departments in the county
when they are called out.
McMann said only a small portion of the district
near Pratum and Macleay east of Salem were directly
See FIREFIGHTERS, Page 4A
Silverton Wine Bar & Bistro
sold, closed until spring
Emily Teel
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Chef Joel Autry has owned the Silverton Wine Bar
& Bistro, a beloved dining destination in an historic
building on Silver Creek in Silverton, since 2015.
On November 28, Autry announced in a post to the
business' Facebook page that he has sold the business
to new, "highly experienced" owners who plan to re-
open in spring 2021 when the business can return to
more normal operations.
"I will miss so many things about serving you all.
The laughter, the friendships, the support are things I
will carry with me for the rest of my years."
Autry got his start in the culinary world making
barbecue sauce and participating in barbecue compe-
titions.
In his ﬁve-year tenure at Silverton Wine Bar & Bis-
tro regulars loved his menu of homey, yet polished
dishes including basil baked salmon, spicy meatloaf,
Swiss fondue and key lime pie.
Autry said he hadn't been looking to sell the busi-
ness when the buyers expressed interest.
"I probably wouldn't have if we weren't going
through what we're going through," he said, but be-
See WINE, Page 3A
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At least 20 Silverton ﬁreﬁghters were exposed to
COVID-19 while attending a training session in late
November.
Two days after participating in the agency's ﬁre-
ﬁghter academy training Nov. 21, the person told the
agency they were experiencing symptoms, according
to oﬃcials from the Silverton Fire District. The train-
ing event was for new volunteer ﬁreﬁghters.
On Nov. 30, the individual was notiﬁed they tested
positive for the virus.
Silverton Fire District assistant chief Ed Bram-
busch said the training took place at a tower at the
district headquarters at 819 Railway Street NE in Sil-
verton where the new volunteers were training for
search and rescue inside a burning building.
Twenty members of the ﬁre district who attended
the all-day class "may have had high-risk exposure"
while training. Those 20 were notiﬁed Nov. 30 of the
possible exposure and instructed to get tested or iso-
late until Dec. 5, 14 days after the exposure.
Grambusch said ﬁreﬁghters are instructed to re-
main 6 feet apart while inside the station under its
COVID-19 protocols. The station is deep cleaned after
each training exercise.
He said the department is paying for the costs as-
sociated with COVID-19 testing for the 20 people
identiﬁed as close contacts, though not all have cho-
sen to get tested.
“I’ve got some who said they are going to get tested
and I’ve got some who are going to wait until the end
of Saturday,” Grambusch said.
Grambusch said the department has six paid staﬀ
members and about 75 volunteers and has plenty of
staﬀ to continue to operate and respond to calls. Sil-
verton-area residents have not been jeopardized and
the public has not been put in any danger due to the
exposure, he said.
The district entered into agreements early in the
pandemic with neighboring agencies to help cover
calls in the case of an outbreak.
A high-risk exposure is one where people are
within 6 feet of a conﬁrmed COVID-19 individual for a
cumulative total of 15 minutes or more, regardless of
whether one or both of them were wearing facial cov-
erings, ﬁre district oﬃcials said in a release.
So far, none of the individuals exposed during the
training are showing virus symptoms, oﬃcials said
Tuesday.
Though the infected ﬁreﬁghter felt COVID-19
symptoms and was tested Nov. 23, they didn’t get re-
sults of the positive diagnosis until Nov. 30.
“The whole situation, the whole COVID-19 with
testing and everything is so extremely frustrating,”
Grambusch said. “I don’t know why we don’t have a
system for ﬁrst responders to get a rapid test.”
The district provided a timeline of events regard-
ing the exposure:
h Nov. 21: All day ﬁreﬁghter training takes place at
the district training facility.
h Nov. 23: The district is notiﬁed by a training par-
ticipant that they have COVID-19 symptoms.
h Nov. 23: All personnel receiving the training or
instructing this training are notiﬁed.
h Nov. 30 (morning) – The ﬁre district is told the
individual tested positive for COVID-19.
h Nov. 30 (morning and afternoon) – District has a
consultation with Marion County Health. All aﬀected
personnel notiﬁed and all personnel who may have
had the high-risk exposure are told to self-quaran-
tine through Dec. 5 and get tested for the virus.
Virginia Barreda is the breaking news and public
safety reporter for the Statesman Journal. She can be
reached at 503-399-6657 or at vbarreda@statesman-
journal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.
Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the States-
man
Journal.
Contact
him
at
bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com or Twitter.com/
bpoehler