WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2021 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Marion County offers grants for hiring teens
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Hiring a young person for their first
job can be difficult for an employer.
Beyond the cost of paying their
wages, businesses often have to give
the youth extensive training and super-
vision.
According to a study by Pew Re-
search Center, teen summer employ-
ment in the United States dropped to
its lowest level since the Great Reces-
sion in 2020 and is currently at one of
its lowest levels since the statistic was
first tracked in 1948.
To help increase the number of op-
portunities for young people, Marion
County is giving out grants through
Willamette Workforce Partnership this
year to employers in the county who
hire first-time employees ages 14
through 17 from May 1 through Sept. 30.
The grants will pay $4 an hour of the
youth’s wages for the summer. To ap-
ply, go to https://willwp.org/
“It’s difficult for businesses today to
be able to afford the wages of youth,
and this really gives them a leg up,”
Marion County Commissioner Danielle
Bethell said. “There are parameters
around it, and there is a cap on the pro-
gram of $40,000, but it can be expand-
ed by the (Board of Commissioners), if
we wanted to grow the program.”
Marion County's program launched
July 23.
To be eligible, a company must em-
ploy youth between 14 and 17 years of
age who are Marion County residents;
be based in Marion County; not employ
See GRANTS, Page 4A
People waiting to buy tickets are reflected in the window of a concession stand
during the Marion County Fair. BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL
Wildland
firefighters
struggle to
stay ahead of
dozens of fires
David Murray
Great Falls Tribune
USA TODAY NETWORK
Crews with Hoffman-Skanska work on the new $2 billion remodel of the roof using salvaged wood product
from Freres Lumber Co. at Portland International Airport.
BRIAN HAYES/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Wildfire-salvaged wood gets new
life at Portland International Airport
When the 2020 Labor Day wildfires burned 50
miles to the south, destroying more than 3,000
homes and scorching 1.2 million acres of trees, the lin-
gering smoke cast the state's largest airport in a haze.
Now, as the Portland International Airport takes on
an ambitious $2.2 billion makeover that will expand
the main terminal and make significant improve-
ments, much of the wood for the new roof over the
main terminal is coming from wood salvaged from
those wildfires.
“Being able to do something with it is fantastic,”
Portland International Airport spokesperson Kama
Simonds said. “To know that we could have a part of
that in this project through our partners who care
about the land that they come from, care about their
business, care about their communities and kind of
pulling that all together, it feels both hopeful and
helpful.”
Something that was the result of one of the most
devastating disasters in the state’s history will be-
come the gateway to Oregon for millions of people
each year.
PDX terminal set for expansion
Portland International Airport opened in 1941 and
the current terminal opened in 1959, though it’s been
In a typical year, wildland firefighters would still
be gearing up for the core of the fire season, but in a
decade characterized by increasingly hotter and dry-
er summers, defining what a "typical" fire season is
has become a moving target.
Oregon's wildfire season started early this year,
due to a deepening drought and record-high early
summer temperatures. It's the same across nearly all
the western United States.
“I don’t believe we’ve ever gone to this fire danger
level this early on the forest,” Montana Bitterroot Na-
tional Forest Service Fire Management Officer Mark
Wilson said on July 12.
And as the fire danger grows, so has the gap in re-
sources.
Large wildfires in Oregon, Washington and Idaho
are bumping up against the more typical early sum-
mer peak fire seasons for Arizona and California. And
the fires in all of the states have grown larger in the
past decade.
That means more large wildfires demanding more
resources at the same time.
Federal officials haven't increased funding for
fighting wildfires, but are allocating a higher percent-
age of funds to that work. States in recent years have
spent hundreds of millions of dollars each as fire
costs have ballooned.
And then there's the human resource.
The job of a seasonal federal wildland firefighter is
dangerous and demanding. Crews are often away
See WILDLAND, Page 3A
An airplane takes off as crews with
Hoffman-Skanska work on the new $2 billion
remodel of the roof using salvaged wood product
from Freres Lumber Co. at Portland International
Airport in Portland, Oregon. BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN
JOURNAL
remodeled through the years.
It’s the terminal D.B. Cooper passed through in 1971
on his way to his infamous flight, and more than 19
million pass through in a typical year to catch a flight
See AIRPORT, Page 4A
OSHA sets temporary rules on smoke, heat
Dora Totoian Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Oregon’s workplace safety agency, Oregon OSHA,
has released two sets of temporary rules: one to pro-
tect workers from wildfire smoke and another to pro-
tect farmworkers from high temperatures in agricul-
tural labor housing.
Both sets of rules go into effect Aug. 9 and remain in
place for six months.
The agency is also creating permanent rules, antici-
pated for this fall, to protect people from wildfire
smoke and excessive heat.
The temporary smoke rules require employers to
train workers on addressing wildfire smoke, try to re-
duce smoke exposure if possible, and notify them
when the air quality index, or AQI, is greater than 101.
They also require employers to make respirators avail-
able when the AQI passes 101, require use of respira-
tors such as KN-95 masks when the AQI exceeds 201,
and require fit-tested respirators when the AQI is
greater than 500.
The AQI is the Environmental Protection Agency’s
index, running from 0 to 500, to measure air pollution
and health risks. Members of sensitive groups may ex-
perience health issues when the AQI exceeds 101, the
See OSHA, Page 4A
Vol. 140, No. 34
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The Roberson Draw Fire as seen from Red Lodge.
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