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illinois-valley-news.com
Wednesday, Feb. 09, 2011, 2 Sections, 14 Pages, Volume 73 No. 48 Published Weekly Cave Junction, Oregon 97523
Inside :
Llama Born
Page A-6
Man Survives
Suicide Attempt
Page A-7
Senior Wrestlers
Page B-1
Cougars Torch
“Weld-a-thon”
Page B-2
Arson suspected in blaze that injured
firefighter
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
State police and fire department
officials now believe arson was
involved in a Jan. 27 fire at a S. Junction
Ave. home that left Illinois Valley Fire
Department Chief Harry Rich injured.
The Jan. 27 blaze damaged
the garage, but fire personnel were
reportedly able to keep the blaze
from damaging the rest of the home.
The owners, Doug and Cappie
Pritchard, reported the fire at about
10:54 p.m., with Illinois Valley
Fire District Chief Harry Rich
and two other firefighters arriving
at the home four minutes later.
More engines arrived in the
next 15 minutes, but Rich said the
department is stretched thin from a
lack of volunteers and employees.
“There were only three of
us on the scene,” Rich said. “The
number of suppression certified
volunteers is down so dramatically
that we can’t get enough people out
of the station in enough time to save a
structure in a life hazard [situation].”
Like many others, the Illinois
Valley Fire Department has had to
operate on a limited budget. As fire
Lady Cougars
Page B-6
Lorna Byrne
Vikings
Page B-6
Hussey History
Continued
Page A-3
Cougars Shoot
for Record
Page B-1
Obituaries
Sudoku
Crossword
Classified
Blotter
A-2
A-3
A-7
B-3
A-5
Illinois Valley High School student Gabriel Hearn puts welding skills into action
Thursday, Feb. 3 during the RCC Weld-a-thon.
chief, Rich was also fighting the fire
along with the staff, but now has
to take time off work due to a knee
injury, stretching the small staff further.
Rich said he was hurt when his
leg jammed between the fire hose
and the fire engine’s tailboard. At the
time, he said adrenaline took over
and he didn’t notice the extent of his
injury, but that the next morning he
had to get treatment for his knee.
After the first three
firefighters arrived at the
Pritchard home, Rich said
another engine with two
more personnel provided
backup. Luckily, the family
had been awake when the
fire started and no one else
was hurt from the blaze.
“If it had been 15
minutes later, they might
have been in bed,” Rich
said. “They wouldn’t have
known until they heard the
smoke detector. It had the
potential to be catastrophic.”
Rich said the Pritchards’
son-in-law also lives upstairs
with his family, including a
newborn baby, but they weren’t
home when the fire started.
“I don’t want to
think about what could
have happened,” he said.
The fire at the Pritchard
home spared their office
and most of the house.
Rich was the only one
reported injured at the scene.
Illinois Valley
Fire
Marshal Jerry Schaeffer said
he visited the site of the Jan.
27 blaze with state police
detectives and found that the
fire originated outside the
garage. Based on the path
of the flames and where the
fire started, Schaeffer said it
was most likely that someone
started the fire from the outside.
“It started with material
in front of the garage door in
the recycle bin,” Schaeffer
said. “There doesn’t seem
to be any other reason
other than somebody just
setting something on fire.”
(Photo by Darcy Wallace, Illinois Valley News)
Continued on A-7
Satellites removed Status of landmark
from Caves Hwy
tree still undecided
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
If you’ve driven on Caves Hwy at all
since Wednesday, Feb. 2, you already know
that the old satellites are no longer there.
According to Cave Junction Mayor Carl
Jacobson, the old satellites once belonged
(Photo by Darcy Wallace, Illinois Valley News)
City of Cave Junction Public Works em-
ployees remove the satellites on a Caves
Hwy property Wednesday, Feb. 2
to Falcon Cable years ago. Since then, the
owner of the grassy Caves Hwy. lot near
Siskiyou market left the satellite dishes alone.
“We sent notices about cleaning the
place up and it got to the point where it
went to an attorney,” Jacobson said. “Now
it’s under the city [of Cave Junction].”
The satellites were an eyesore to some
and dangerous to others. Illinois Valley
Fire District chief Harry Rich called them
a “horrible” safety hazard, sometimes
attracting young teens to swing from them.
“I want to thank the city for removing
those dishes,” Rich said. “I took in almost
40 complains about those dishes…it looks
better now and it isn’t such a hazard.”
On Feb. 2, city public works
employees Travis Robbins, Cameron
Smith and Mike Snider were some of those
who helped remove dishes from the lot.
Jacobson said safety had been an issue
for some time, but that city employees
could not remove the satellites until they
had “gone through the court process.”
According to Jacobson, the satellite dishes
aren’t being thrown away at this point. Instead,
he hopes someone will want to buy the dishes
if they can be restored into better condition.
“They might not be worth anything.
We’re trying to get it cleaned up and clean the
lot up…the whole point was to get this done
before someone got hurt,” Jacobson said.
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
Just
off
Lister
St.
in
Cave Junction, one of the oldest remaining
Douglas fir trees in the area stands about
120 feet tall, its enormous base branching
upwards into eight or more sections.
The tree has been a staple of the natural
surroundings, serving as a treehouse for
generations. But some are concerned the
tree will soon fall, potentially harming
others or damaging property nearby.
Don Hall, owner of the property
where the tree stands, said he
doesn’t want to cut down the tree
but his insurance will not cover any
possible damages from the tree.
“The tree was there before the
apartment building was there,” Hall
said. “Other people have said it
won’t fall in the next 100 years. But
when you’re talking about life and
death…nobody can predict exactly
when a tree is going to fall over.”
Arborists from Oregon State
University, the forest service and
others have already tested the tree, but
have come to different conclusions
on whether the tree is healthy or not.
In an earlier estimate, Jacob
Bergquist from Mountain Branch
Tree Service in Grants Pass said the
tree’s roots were damaged on one side
and that the trunk appeared rotten.
Observations from a core sample
taken by an OSU Extension agent
suggested the tree was still growing
quickly, though with some heart rot that
was normal for a tree of that size and age.
Don Hall’s brother Herb has been
raising questions about the tree for the past
several weeks. He said he understands
concern about liability but disagrees that
the tree poses a threat to those nearby.
“[Don] has to be responsible for
the tree falling on people even though
it will probably live another 100
years,” Herb said. “But arborists can’t
say how long it would live…it would
be nice if there was a compromise.”
Mark Kellenbeck, owner of
Valley
Village
apartments
close
to the tree, reportedly alerted Don
Hall about his concerns that the
tree could fall on the apartments,
which house several older residents.
Continued on A-6