FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015
Outdoor Rec / Local
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 7
Locked & Loaded gears up for 2015 off-roading
brought us
together,
but the need
to keep our
roads open
and acces-
sible for ev-
eryone is our
passion. We
run respon-
sibly on the
trails with
our families
and friends,
as well as
THE OUTDOOR COLUMN
4x4 clubs
from other ar-
By Todd Arriola
eas, including
Well, it looks like
Idaho, which
Locked and Loaded
boosts local tourism, as
(L&L), in its sixth year as
well as other local busi-
a local 4x4 off-road group, nesses that are integral in
is all geared up and ready
keeping us running. Our
for some new adventures.
members are local busi-
Christina Witham,
ness owners, city, state and
secretary for L&L, and
county workers, ranchers,
co-owner of Oregon Sign
teachers and many other
Company in Baker City
professionals, so we know
with husband Russ, said
how important off-road
the group currently has 19
recreation is to our econo-
vehicles, mostly Jeeps, in-
my and our community.”
cluding the Witham’s own
It isn’t just about run-
1967 Jeepster Commando
ning trails, and having fun
(manufactured by Kaiser)
with this group. They’ve
and 50 members, covering
also played a vital role in
the spectrum of ages from
helping to maintain roads,
one newborn baby on up.
trails and other areas, par-
One of the fi rst questions ticipating in events like the
you may ask is, “What
“National Go Topless Day”
does the name mean?”
last May, celebrated by
Witham said that “locked”
cleaning up forest roads in
refers to the lockers on the
the Elk Creek and Wash-
vehicles, a special differ-
ington Gulch areas, for the
ential setup, allowing them third year in a row.
to go places a standard
“Topless” refers to the
vehicle couldn’t go. And
removal of the Jeep tops,
“loaded” is a reference to
and celebrating the spring
the vehicles being loaded
season. This year, the
with family, pets and gear.
group’s cleanup day is
She said, “Our love for
scheduled for May 16, but
the outdoors and our 4x4s
the exact spot is yet to be
determined, Witham said.
In late February of this
year, the group Forest Ac-
cess For All (FAFA) was
contacted about individu-
als with a vehicle stuck
in the mountains, and
in turn, FAFA contacted
L&L, the group shortly
thereafter springing into
action, according to FAFA.
All returned home safely,
including Jim Marks and
Jimmy Sullivan of L&L,
and FAFA publicly thanked
the two individuals and
the group on their website,
adding, “This is a perfect
example of how people
that are completely sepa-
rated from each other in
their personal lives made a
difference.”
Said Witham, “We enjoy
traveling long distances
as a group to bring about
awareness to off-road
travel, and to learn about
customs, laws, history and
commerce in those areas.
We have explored as far
as the Magruder Trail and
Lolo Motorway in Mon-
tana, which is rich in his-
tory. The Naches Ranger
District in the Okanogan-
Wenatchee Forest is by
far the best-managed,
off-road-friendly, fun and
challenging forest we have
ever been on. From Idaho’s
Rogue River to the old
mining towns of Florence
and Yellow Pine, there is
so much to see and do.”
She talked about loca-
tions closer to home, fac-
ing mismanagement and
threats of closure, em-
phasizing the continuing
need to fi ght to keep them
Submitted Photo.
The Locked and Loaded group is ready to begin rolling the third Saturday of
every month on a variety of favorite trails.
open and accessible for
future generations. “The
places I have mentioned
in Montana, Idaho and
Washington are all man-
aged and open for tourism,
recreation, agriculture and
mining, and the communi-
ties that surround them are
stronger because of it,” she
said.
She cited Bennett Peak
as an example, among the
many areas threatened by
the Blue Mountain Forest
Plan Revision and the Wal-
lowa Whitman National
Forest Travel Management
Plan, and said, “The reason
we will fi ght to keep this
peak accessible is the
history, including mining,
hunting, high mountain
hiking and snowmobiling.
The economic factors as-
sociated with those activi-
ties, as well as the overall
enjoyment of traveling into
such a beautiful place, is
reason enough.”
Witham said L&L has
monthly runs on the third
Saturday, and for March,
the group’s destina-
tion, Washington Gulch
to Denny Creek Run,
included routes from Poca-
hontas Road to Washington
Gulch, to Elk Creek, Old
Auburn Lane, Union Creek
Road, Highway 7, Skyline
Road, Denny Creek, and
back to Baker City. These
were some of the items
that were recommended
for the run: common sense,
GPS, paper map of the area
and 4-wheel-drive for the
few areas that may be soft.
The items the group rec-
ommends always having in
their vehicles: fl ares, fi rst
aid kit, matches, fl ashlight,
extra fuel, fi re extinguish-
er, tools, spare tire, winch,
paper map, GPS, cellular
phone, CB, extra clothing,
blankets, food and water.
“We look forward to
bringing the readers of The
Baker County Press some
off-road destinations and
requirements, so that you
all may venture into your
public lands safely and
discover the wonders that
await each and every one
of you,” Witham said.
We’ll highlight some of
those destinations in future
columns here.
You can check out the
group’s Facebook page
for more information
about Locked and Loaded,
including details about
upcoming events and
membership.
Good luck with your
adventures!
Fire prevention
Continued from Page 1
“The benefi t to the
department is signifi cant.
First, it gives us the op-
portunity to interact with
people in the community
and share with them not
only what we do from a
fi re prevention standpoint
but what other services we
provide.
“Inevitably those con-
versations occur and they
get to know our personnel.
“Second, we have the
opportunity to observe
what potential hazards are
in any given structure. The
majority of the inspec-
tions that we are doing
are considered business or
mercantile inspections so
they are kind of a low level
inspection for the most
part they are not what we
would consider a technical
inspection.
“When we get to the
larger operations, size-
able occupancies or care
facilities we will actually
get the State Deputy Fire
Marshall involved in those.
Last the benefi t to us is
to observe any signifi cant
construction features in
these buildings that would
pose a hazard to us in the
event a fi re were to occur,”
John said.
The information col-
lected could be useful in
preventing unnecessary
devastation should a fi re
occur. It is no secret that
Baker City has old build-
ings, some with little to no
protection from the adjoin-
ing buildings to stop the
spread of a fi re.
“A fi re could be po-
tentially devastating to
business owners and the
community in general. A
large number, somewhere
around 80-90%, of small
businesses never open their
doors again after a fi re.
That can really impact a
small community like ours
especially if a fi re effects
more than one building or
business,” said John.
An example is Jesup,
Georgia where in August
of 2014 fi re broke out in
a downtown building and
quickly spread destroying
seven buildings.
According to John, Baker
City has nearly 400 com-
mercial buildings city-
wide.
Speaking toward the
enforcement of the fi re
inspections, he added, “At
this point in time, there is
no punitive schedule we
are focusing on positive
compliance. We will utilize
a worksheet and provide a
copy of that to businesses.
We will give a timeline to
correct the problem and
provide assistance if we
can.
“Many problems can be
corrected easily and some
may even be things that
can be corrected during the
inspection.”
John continued, “Usually
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New Fire Chief Mark John has hit the ground running, reigniting the City’s fi re
inspection program.
the way the process goes
when a violation notice is
provided, the violator gets
a copy and is required to
sign for that copy showing
that they have accepted it,
it is not an admission of
guilt it is just to show they
have received that notice
and there is a time frame
for them to correct the
problem.
“We will then go back
out and re-inspect. If the
violation has not been
corrected we give them
another opportunity,
beyond that if the problem
is still outstanding there is
an enforcement piece were
we can actually require
them to do that and we can
get the State Fire Marshal
involved, code enforce
can get involved and then
we can take some action. I
hope it will never get that
far. I think most will be
receptive, I’m very much
aware that not everyone is
going to receive this well.”
John also addressed
the City Council advising
them of the implementa-
tion of The Fire Safety
Program at the March 10
Council meeting.
“I just want to warn
you that you may get
complaints, because our
vehicles will be parked in
front of businesses but we
have no choice, if we get
an ambulance call while
conducting inspections
we have to access to that
vehicle,” he said.
Recently, Karine John-
son, Deputy State Fire
Marshall who is based
out of Ontario, conducted
an eight-hour course for
the department and John
indicated that he took
a refresher course she
facilitated on fi re and life
safety with other rural Fire
Chiefs.
Johnson will also be
involved in bigger inspec-
tions and help with compli-
ance.
Baker Schools are
inspected yearly and fall
under the responsibility of
Johnson, however John in-
dicated he and his depart-
ment would likely became
involved.
John also told the
Council during a recent
goal-setting session—look
for full coverage of that in
next week’s issue—that
it is his vision to see one
member of his department
eventually receive some
extra training and become
a certifi ed Fire Marshall.
As it stands now, John acts
as the City Fire Marshall.
A new certifi ed Fire
Marshall would eventually
take over inspection duties
and keep the program up to
date as part of their main
duties. Singling out one
employee in particular,
John gave accolades to
Sarah Blair.
He said, “She does a
great job and has the most
training of our personnel to
do inspections. She’s our
expert.”
According to John, only
eight inspections com-
pleted last year because of
time and staff constraints.
The need to accomplish
more inspections and keep
those inspections current is
in John’s opinion is great.
“In a community this
size we are very lucky to
have a department like
ours, providing the type of
services we are able to,”
he said.
As John points out, there
is always room for im-
provement. “I don’t know
exactly how many we
will get to but we will put
together a plan so that each
of the shifts shares the
workload,” he concluded.