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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
Firefighters: Days often started at 5 a.m. and ended at midnight
Continued from Page 1A
This year it was unusual to
deploy four task forces in one
summer for out-of-town fires,
Olheiser said. Before this sum-
mer, the next most active sum-
mer was in 2015 with two task
forces, and just occasional
deployments every few years
before then.
“Without dedication from
the community, we could never
do these things. It’s a hard hit to
a small business if you lose two
or three employees for weeks,”
Olheiser said.
Olheiser said the number
of firefighters sent and from
which fire department is based
on availability of personnel and
resources.
“When the state gives a
resource order, you go down
the list of what the state is ask-
ing for and see who has it,” he
said. “Starting with Milli Fire, I
was getting daily updates from
departments of who was avail-
able and what was available.”
Late night call
Lt. Josh Como, with the
Gearhart Volunteer Fire Depart-
Submitted Photo
Cannon Beach firefighters
near the Eagle Creek Fire.
ment, had just gotten back from
a family vacation when he got
the late-night call to fight the
Chetco Bar Fire. He’s been
with the department 11 years,
he said, but being called out to a
fire out of town and of this size
was a first.
“I got the call at 11:14 p.m.,
and by 3 a.m. we were on the
road to Brookings,” Como said.
“I think it first set in what we
were doing when the sun started
coming up over I-5, a couple of
hours in. If you weren’t ready
— it was too late. You have to
try picturing yourself there.”
Days were long — often
starting at 5 a.m. and ending at
midnight — and the number of
tasks to complete plentiful. But
between moments of exhaus-
tion, Como said, were feelings
of excitement.
Como was in charge of a
truck designed for fighting
brush fires. He and the other
volunteers were in charge of
trimming back foliage close to
houses that could catch on fire
and turning on sprinkler sys-
tems as preventative measures.
The team would also help pro-
tect livestock and watch for spot
fires.
Together the task force tri-
aged almost 50 homes.
“Being in a fire is a fine-
ly-tuned machine,” Como said.
“If you look at the big picture,
it seems like it will never get
done. But when you break it
down into parts, it’s like a lawn-
mower: there’s a blade that cuts
the grass and shaft that connects
to the engine — each thing
plays it’s own little part in mak-
ing it work.”
“Maybe we were just a
team of 13 people out of 1,800,
but if we weren’t there to pro-
tect those homes then that job
wouldn’t have gotten done.”
Put people at ease
Often people envision dra-
matic battles between firefighter
and flame. But, sometimes, the
job of a firefighter is not only
to put out the fire, but just to
put people at ease, Benedict
said.
“We were cutting weeds
around one family’s house who
were on Level 1 evacuation,
which just means be prepared if
you need to go, and they were
visibly scared,” Benedict said.
“So we showed the kids around
the truck, showed them what
we do with the sprinklers. It
gives us an opportunity to talk
to people to bring them down
from that fear and help them
know what they can do in the
future to be safe.”
Benefit Concert for Clatsop Community College
Performing Arts Center
Celtic, Folk & World Music Concert
With
Four Shillings Short
Warrenton: Fees vary depending
on the size and scope of the building
Continued from Page 1A
The adjustments bring the
city’s building department
back in line with recommen-
dations and guidelines estab-
lished by the Oregon State
Building Codes Division. The
increases mean the city will
be collecting “the appropri-
ate amount of tax revenue.”
The increases could also help
the building department bet-
ter provide services “as the
demands from the construction
community continue to grow,”
according to a city memo.
“So what we’re trying to
do is just get back online with
Salem and their suggested
costs,” Goodwin said.
The fees vary depending on
the size and scope of the build-
ing. Future adjustments to
these fees will not be as large,
City Manager Linda Engbret-
son said.
“Again, this represents
nine years of not adding to it,”
Goodwin said.
City Commissioner Mark
Baldwin, a general contractor
who runs his own construc-
tion company, was in favor of
the fee increases, saying, “We
definitely need to.”
In other business:
• The commission held a
first reading of an ordinance
that requires voter approval
before the city can transfer or
dispose of assets — such as
property or services — with
a value of $100,000 or more.
The value is based on 2014
dollars and the ordinance out-
lines a 3 percent annual adjust-
ment. This amendment to the
city charter was first passed by
voters last year; the city and
commissioners have worked
with the chief petitioners on
the wording of the ordinance
in several meetings since.
• Commissioners final-
ized two agreements related
to Pacific Coast Seafood’s
rebuild of its Warrenton sea-
food processing facility that
they had deferred at their last
meeting. These agreements
enable the city to distribute
Olvey: ‘I’m going
to bury it with signs’
Continued from Page 1A
owners of run-down or aban-
doned properties in Astoria —
like the Flavel home on 15th
Street and Franklin Avenue —
into compliance.
“The object of the city was
not to get money, it was to
clean the property up,” City
Attorney Blair Henningsgaard
said.
Paying the fines does not
buy Olvey any time with the
city, it simply halts the pro-
cess set in motion by the City
Council. Henningsgaard said
he plans to talk with city coun-
cilors about how they want to
proceed if Olvey continues to
ignore the city’s requests.
“We’re going to be looking
at other ways to address this
chronic issue,” Estes said.
Olvey maintains his house
began to go downhill, liter-
ally, after the city installed
a sewer in his front yard that
turned his property into the
drainage point. Every year, he
says, his yard floods and his
house sinks. He has given up
on trying to improve the prop-
erty and believes he could
have grounds for a lawsuit
against the city, though he has
yet to secure a lawyer. He did
not seek legal help in dealing
with the fines and the nuisance
property designation levied
against him this summer.
Though he paid these most
recent fines, he says he has no
intention of cleaning up the
property. Instead, he is work-
ing on new signs.
“I’m going to bury it with
signs,” Olvey said.
Sold: Sold properties part
of effort to wrap up estate
Continued from Page 1A
“It was my intention to pur-
chase all the properties from
Mitch, but I’m getting old,”
Paavola said, adding that sell-
ing them is part of an effort to
wrap up his estate.
The two bought 1312 and
1332 Commercial St. from
Columbia State Bank in 2015.
The two buildings long housed
Abeco and Columbia Choco-
lates, which have since moved
west along Commercial Street
into the former Link’s Sporting
Goods storefront.
Luottamus Partners sold
1312 Commercial St., the his-
toric Dealey & Malone Build-
ing, to Elizabeth Harris earlier
this year. The building houses
Lee’s Attic antiques store. The
company still owns the Astoria
Event Center at 255 Ninth St.
and the Odd Fellows Building
and Sanborn Building at 10th
and Commercial streets.
Paavola separately owns
the iconic pink 433 13th St.,
where she ran Columbia
Travel Bureau until retiring
recently. The building is being
remodeled into office space for
Peter Tadei’s company, Myr-
iad Commercial Properties,
and other firms. But after their
lease expires, Paavola said, she
will be back inside doing her
own thing.
“I’m going to be buried in
that building,” she said.
a $150,000 grant from Ore-
gon Business Development
Department to Pacific Coast
Seafood.
• The commission approved
a contract for $29,690 with
Firebird Bronze, the foundry
that will do the mold and cast-
ing of a planned Veterans of
Foreign Wars memorial. The
project is being paid for by a
grant from the Oregon Parks
and Recreation Department.
• The commission approved
a contract with TMG Services
for the purchase and instal-
lation of a sodium hypochlo-
rite system for Warrenton’s
Water Treatment Facility. At
$101,603, TMG came in with
the lowest bid. A bid from
another company came in only
a few hundred dollars higher,
but Bob Bingham, water treat-
ment plant superintendent,
said even if the bids had come
in at the same price, he would
have chosen TMG. He told the
commissioners he believed
TMG would provide the best
product.
Thursday, September 14 th
7-9 pm
Clatsop Community College Performing Arts Center
588 16th Street, Astoria, OR.
Four Shillings Short plays Traditional music fr om the Celtic
Lands, Medieval & Renaissance Europe, India and the Americas
on a fantastic collection of world instruments: Hammered &
Mountain dulcimer, Mandolins, renaissance Woodwinds, North
Indian Star, Recorders & Tinwhistles, Banjo, Guitar, Charango,
Psaltery, percussion, vocals & even a Krumhorn.
For info contact
Josie at 503-791-0305
$ 15 cover
“Four Shillings Short takes you on a musical journey
through time and across the seas as they perform
everything fr om Traditional Irish tunes and airs to Indian
Ragas.”
(Th e Foothills Sun-Gazette/ Exeter, CA.)
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