Inside:
Berry good
27th annual
Festival highlighted
Page 5
Wedding bells
Two CJ couples
tie their knots
Pages 4&10
The Sikorsky S-61N helicopter that crashed at the Buckhorn Fire,
approximately 15 miles northwest of Junction City in Trinity County
is shown (above). The photo was taken on May 2 at Danville Re-
gional Airport in Danville, Va. (Photo courtesy of Richard T. Davis)
* * *
Burnt wreckage of the ill-fated Carson chopper is shown at left.
(Photo courtesy of Redding Record Searchlight )
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Page 11
Art a’plenty
Monthly event
showcases talent
Page 12
Gridiron coaches
sought for IVHS
The Illinois Valley High
School football team is seek-
ing assistant coaches for the
2008/09 season.
Those interested in
coaching can contact head
coach Ray Yarbrough at
footballray@gmail.com or
telephone 787-0191.
Reservoir
necessity
questioned
Kerby Water District,
city of CJ debate issue
Disagreement about the
need for a reservoir and if so
whether it should be in the
city of Cave Junction or in
Kerby Water District (KWD)
resulted in a somewhat heated
exchange during the city
council meeting Monday
night, Aug. 11.
John Plute of KWD ad-
dressed the council during its
meeting in city hall. He ani-
matedly referred to an email
received earlier the same day
from City Recorder Jim Polk.
The latter provided informa-
tion from a workshop involv-
ing the city and KWD.
Polk’s email noted, “The
discussion started with the
proposed engineering review
of the HBH Engineering hy-
draulic analysis, the cost esti-
mate, the information that
would need to be forwarded
to Pace Engineering with the
scope to review the impact
the extension of water service
to Kerby would have on the
current system and storage
capacity, with Kenny Houck
stating that KWD understood
the city’s desire for due dili-
gence to make an informed
decision.
“He added that the KWD
engineers would provide any
information Pace needed to
complete the system modeling.
“The consensus of the
council was that if Pace
agreed with the position taken
by HBH, the city would sup-
port the plan. This led to a
discussion on required stor-
age capacity and production
capabilities of the city in a
major fire event.
“The issue of whether a
reservoir is needed is the
sticking point,” the message
stated, “and the city has not
accepted that one is not neces-
sary. The council, by consen-
sus, stated that they could ac-
cept our engineer’s position,
whichever way it came out.”
However, Plute, while
noting that KWD does not
have the money for a reser-
voir, strongly disagreed with
(Continued on page 10)
Two from Cave Junction in fatal helo accident
Northern California crash includes deaths of seven Grayback Forestry firefighters
By MICHELLE BINKER
IVN Staff Writer
Two men from Cave
Junction are among those
involved in what some offi-
cials are calling the deadliest
fire-fighting aviation accident
in U.S. history in which nine
men died and four were in-
jured when their heavy-lift
helicopter crashed in Shasta-
Trinity National Forest.
The Iron Complex Fire
accident in Northern Califor-
nia occurred Tuesday, Aug. 5.
It claimed the lives of seven
Grayback Forestry firefight-
ers, among them Steven
Caleb Renno, 21, of Cave
Junction. Grayback is based
in Merlin, near Grants Pass.
Among the injured is one
of the helo pilots, William
(Bill) Coultas, 44, of Cave
Junction. Coultas, an em-
ployee of Merlin-based Car-
son Helicopters. He is listed
in critical but stable condition
at UC Davis Burn Center in
Sacramento.
He is being treated for
second- and third-degree
burns on approximately a
third of his body, and under-
went surgery and skin grafts
late last week. Coultas likely
will remain at UC Davis for
another month, followed by
rehabilitation. Family mem-
bers, including his wife,
Chris, have gone to Sacra-
mento to be with him.
Coultas and his wife,
who own the CJ Video Mart/
Radio Shack store in Cave
Junction, are graduates of
Illinois Valley High School.
Names of those from
Southwestern Oregon who
died are listed as firefighters
Shawn Blazer, 30, of Med-
ford; Scott Charleson, 25,
Phoenix; Matthew Hammer,
23, Grants Pass; Edrik Go-
mez, 19, Ashland; Bryan
Three injured firefighters
-- Medford residents Rick
Schroeder, 42; Michael
Brown, 20, and Jonathan
Frohreich, 18 -- were treated
on take-off from a remote
helipad in the Trinity Alps
Wilderness, approximately 20
miles northwest of Junction
City and some 30 miles from
Redding.
The helo was on
its third trip to
shuttle firefight-
ers from the
Buckhorn Fire to
base camp when
the accident oc-
curred.
Other
firefighters on the
helipad awaiting
transport helped
pull survivors
from the wreck-
age.
The injured ap-
parently were
able to escape the
craft at that point
before it went
over
an embank-
Andy Mills, director of helicopter operations for Carson Helicopter, de-
ment,
but that has
scribes the crash for news media at the Grants Pass Airport in Merlin on
not been verified.
Thursday, Aug. 7. (Photo by Michelle Binker, Illinois Valley News )
National Transpor-
Rich, 29, Medford; and David
and released from California
tation Safety Board (NTSB)
Steele, 19, Ashland.
hospitals.
investigators were at the
Other victims of the acci-
There is an unconfirmed
scene as of Thursday, Aug. 7.
dent were U.S. Forest Service
report that another firefighter
Kitty Higgins, an NTSB
inspector pilot James N.
from Cave Junction was go-
board member, reported on
Ramage, 63, of Redding; and
ing to be aboard the helicop-
Friday, Aug. 8 that the cock-
Carson Helicopters pilot
ter that crashed, but that a
pit voice recorder had been
Roark Schwanenberg, 54,
fellow firefighter went on
recovered and sent to Wash-
from Lostine, Ore.
instead. The two men, ac-
ington, D.C.
A memorial service for
cording to the report, played
Ten interviews were con-
the fallen Grayback firefight-
“Paper, Scissors, Stone” to
ducted with witnesses who
ers will be held Friday, Aug.
see who would get the last
stated that the helicopter rose
15 at the Jackson County
seat, as there was one fire-
and moved forward more
Fairgrounds in Central Point.
fighter too many for that par-
slowly than normal, Higgins
The program is scheduled
ticular flight.
said.
from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The
The helo, a Sikorsky S-
The witnesses indicated
tribute is being organized by
61N Fire King was owned and
that when the aircraft was
Grayback Forestry and Car-
operated by Carson, a Penn-
approximately 50 feet off the
son Helicopters with assis-
sylvania company with craft at
ground and 150 yards from its
tance from the interagency
sites nationwide including
take-off point, the nose struck
fire community.
Merlin. The aircraft crashed
a tree, and rotor strikes fol-
lowed before the helicopter
descended rapidly.
It struck the ground,
rolled onto its side, and filled
with thick smoke. It then
went over an embankment
and caught fire, ending up
approximately 1,000 feet
from the top.
“The accounts are very
consistent,” Higgins said. A
full report on the details of the
accident may not be available
for a year, she indicated.
Andy Mills, director of
helicopter operations for Car-
son, said that Schwanenberg
and Coultas were experienced
heavy-lift pilots with more
than 25,000 combined flight
hours.
A six-member structures
team spent some four hours at
the site of the crash, Higgins
said, conducting surveys and
documenting conditions at the
site. It was anticipated that
more investigators would
comb the scene.
The fire-fighting com-
munity has responded online
with an outpouring of condo-
lences and messages of sym-
pathy on Grayback Forestry’s
Website blog.
And crews on other cur-
rent wildfires have challenged
one another to raise funds for
the Wildland Firefighter
Foundation. The fund helps
support the families of fallen
firefighters.
Contributions should
include a reference to the Iron
44 Incident. Visit
www.wffoundation.org.
Another firefighter, a
USFS employee, died in a
felling incident battling the
Iron Complex fires in July.
Flags ordered to half-staff in honor of fallen Oregon firefighters
All flags at public
institutions are being flown at
half-staff from sunrise Mon-
day, Aug. 11, through sunset
Friday, Aug. 15 in memory of
the firefighters and crew who
died in a helicopter crash in
Northern California on Tues-
day, Aug. 5.
Gov. Kulongoski, who
ordered the lowered flags,
said, “Year after year we de-
pend on these committed
individuals to protect our
homes, our communities and
our forests in the face of an
unpredictable, unrelenting
Mother Nature.
“Their dedication to this
precarious job serves us all.
“Our thoughts and prai-
ries are with the families and
communities that have lost a
loved one,” said the governor.
“We are forever indebted
to them and to those who
gave their lives bravely help-
ing others,” he concluded.
The firefighters who died
were part of a crew from
Grayback Forestry Inc., a
wildfire contracting company
based in Merlin. The helicop-
ter was owned by Grants
Pass-based Carson Helicop-
ters. The craft was being used
to fight the Iron Complex of
fires in the Shasta-Trinity
National Forest. The crash
claimed the lives of seven
Grayback Forestry employees
and injured three others.
Oregon first: solar highway
A Toyota 4Runner incurred fire and smoke dam-
age Monday, Aug. 11 on Barlow Street. The vehi-
cle was driven by Barlow Street resident Elana
Barlow. Illinois Valley Fire District and Oregon
Dept. of Forestry responded to the 3:27 p.m.
alarm. (Photo by Illinois Valley News )
Oregon is installing
the nation’s first solar demon-
stration project in a highway
right-of-way, “moving the
state a step further in its role
as a leader in renewable
power development,” an-
nounced Gov. Kulongoski.
The governor and
ODOT, in partnership with
Portland General Electric
(PGE) and US Bank (USB),
unveiled the project that will
help light the way for drivers
at the Interstate 5 and
Interstate 205 interchange in
Tualatin. The project will
involve 594 solar panels.
The demonstration pro-
ject is an “All Oregon” effort,
as Oregon companies will
supply materials, design and
install this collaborative pro-
ject. SolarWorld AG of Hills-
boro will supply the solar
panels; PV Powered Inc. of
Bend will supply the inverter.
The 104-kilowatt solar
photovoltaic system -- cover-
ing approximately 8,000
square feet of space and
roughly the length of two
football fields -- will produce
an estimated 112,000 kilowatt
hours a year, or 28 percent of
the 400,000 kilowatt hours
used to light the interchange.
It’s anticipated that the
$1.3 million project will be
finished in December.