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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017 Oregon wildfi re fi ghting costs hit $340 million Blazes burned more than 678,000 acres By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — Fighting Ore- gon wildfi res this year so far has cost state, federal, local, tribal and private entities more than $340 million and con- sumed 678,000 acres, state authorities said Monday. All of that activity man- ifested into smoke-fi lled air and limited visibility for many Oregonians. The “sheer volume of fi res all at the same time and con- tinuous days of growth up through Washington and Idaho” created the oppressive conditions, said Doug Grafe, fi re protection division chief at the Oregon Department of Forestry. More than 8,000 person- nel from different agencies have been deployed to fi ght wildland fi res across the state. Oregon Department of Forestry A firefighter working on wildfires in s outhern Oregon. Fighting wildfires in Oregon this season has cost $340 million, state officials said Monday. That’s more than one-third of the personnel deployed to combat wildfi res nationwide, Grafe said. The most dangerous fi res started in late July and early August. The region has been dry since mid-June, with no signifi cant rainfall until Sun- day. Tens of thousands of lightning strikes contributed to the severity of the fi re season. Smoke had already cap- tured the attention of most of the state, when the human- caused Eagle Creek F ire sparked this month in the state’s scenic gem, the Colum- bia Gorge, trapped 150 hik- ers and threatened Portland’s water supply, the Bull Run Watershed. Fire crews kept the fi re from that crucial water supply and from the Multnomah Falls Lodge, where fl ames came within 40 feet of the historic structure. “A lot of what this fi re was doing was spotting out ahead of itself within communities, and they were just having to go after it, and catch it,” said Ore- gon Fire Marshal Jim Walker. “They did that hand-in-hand with all of the resources, part- nering together.” Rain on Sunday evoked widespread excitement in the Gorge, where fi refi ghters con- tinued to battle fl ames visible from Interstate 84. “I think we are in good place with the rain and the con- ditions,” Grafe said. Gov. Kate Brown deployed the Oregon National Guard in August to respond to several severe fi res. National Guard helicopters assisted with the rescue of trapped hikers and poured 1.3 million gallons of water on burning land and structures. The Department of Forestry has released the heli- copters after 45 days of duty. The conditions on air per- sonnel are as bad, if not worse, than combat, said Dave Stuckey, deputy director of the Oregon Military Department. The state placed 950 National Guardsmen on state active duty, a high for any year since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when 1,979 Ore- gon National Guard personnel were deployed, Stuckey said. Fire crews have suffered no fatalities, but there have been about 34 injuries among National Guard personnel and 23 among forestry personnel. The governor’s order to deploy the National Guard covered four fi res: Eagle Creek, Nena Springs, Milli and Chetco Bar. Those four fi res alone threatened 19,978 residences and destroyed 10. Nearly 8,000 people were evacuated in those areas. The cost of fi ghting the fi res was about $15.3 million, said Oregon Fire Marshal Jim Walker. Oregon is one of the few states with a wildfi re insurance policy, but that will cover only 42,000 acres, or about 6 per- cent of the affected areas in the state, Walker said. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. Saving Multnomah Lodge: ‘We didn’t want Oregon to lose that’ Fire crews work to protect Mult- nomah Falls and the Multnomah Falls Lodge, which was built in 1925, from the Eagle Creek Fire near Troutdale. By JIM RYAN The Oregonian PORTLAND — Rick Buck could feel the fi re coming. Winds swirled like little tornadoes just yards from the Multnomah Falls Lodge. The air alternated between hot and cold. Thick smoke boiled in, burning his eyes. Buck, the proprietor of the historic 1925 building, felt helpless. “I just said to myself, ‘I’m out of here,’” he recalled. Soon, fl ames ripped across the ridge at the top of the falls. They swept down the hillside and raced toward the squat stone structure with a wooden roof. Trees fell. Temperatures surged. And fi refi ghters had their marching orders: Protect the lodge. It was an exhausting over- night fi refi ght, but the building emerged unscathed — cedar shakes and all. “Multnomah Lodge is the icon of Oregon,” said Lance Lighty, a Eugene Springfi eld Fire battalion chief called in to help manage the blaze. “We didn’t want Oregon to lose that. And we weren’t going to let the fi re win on this one.” The wildfi re started Sept. 2 along the Eagle Creek Trail, but it took off two nights later, whipped by winds that pushed it hard and fast toward the falls, about 12 miles west in the gorge. The Eagle Creek Fire now covers 48,387 acres and has prompted evacuations and the longest shutdown in recent memory of Interstate 84 between Hood River and Troutdale — an area often Genna Martin/Seattle Post-Intelligencer closed in spurts when winter storms hit. Although most people have returned home and the free- way’s westbound lanes opened Thursday, the fi re contin- ues to burn and is 32 percent contained. The battle Lighty had already had a wild Labor Day. He had helped make the call that holiday Monday to shut down the interstate in both directions, working with the Oregon Department of Trans- portation. He had watched 30 mph-plus gusts shift and drive fl ames and smoke through the dense forest parched by a rain- less summer. Now the fi re was making a beeline for Oregon’s high- est waterfall and its name- sake lodge, among the state’s most revered destinations and backdrops for countless family vacations. A top tourist attrac- tion, Multnomah Falls gets an estimated 1 million to 1.5 mil- lion visitors a year. Lighty and his colleagues knew they would need plenty of fi refi ghters and a way to douse the lodge roof and the surrounding area from above. The fi re was traveling so fast over the steep slopes of the Columbia River Gorge that it was too late to try to remove brush, cut down trees and dig trenches to keep the fl ames away. Water was the only defense. It was around 10 p.m. that night when Lighty and other fi re managers called for a Port- land ladder truck and four fi re engines. They also com- missioned fi ve water tenders from fi re departments in Forest Grove, Gaston, Tualatin Valley vand Hillsboro. The crews rushed to the gorge and set up at the base of the falls. That’s where they stayed well into the next day. The plan? Use the ladder truck as a sprinkler, wetting down the lodge’s roof and everything within about 30 to 40 yards: a footpath, the lodge’s back W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A (2) (-) (-) (6) (-) (8) (9) (10) (12) (13) (-) (20) (-) (29) (30) (31) (32) (34) (35) (36) (38) (39) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (56) (57) (58) (61) (63) (64) (65) (162) KATU KOMO KING KOIN KIRO KGW KRCW KOPB KPTV KPDX KCPQ TBS KZJO ESPN ESPN2 NICK DISN FAM FMC LIFE ROOT FS1 SPIKE COM HIST A&E TLC DISC NGEO TNT AMC USA FOOD HGTV FX CNN FNC CNBC BRAV TCM SYFY RFD (2) (4) (5) (-) (7) (-) (3) (10) (12) (-) (13) (20) (22) (29) (30) (31) (32) (34) (35) (36) (38) (39) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (56) (57) (58) (61) (63) (64) (65) (162) 6 PM The line held. But fl ames still burned on the hillside above, so fi refi ghters kept pour- ing water on the periphery to stop hot debris from rolling downhill or embers from fl ying onto the roof. By late that evening, the worst was over, yet fi refi ghters would have to water down the lodge and surroundings through the following Thursday to make sure their handiwork endured as they dodged falling rocks and trees from the cliffs and hillside around the falls. A fi re engine remains at the scene just in case. w e N WARRENTON SELF-STORAGE 2385 SE DOLPHIN RD. WARRENTON, OR BOOK ONLINE WWW.OOSITESTORAGE.COM 150 /month $ (8’ X 40’|320SF|9.5’ tall) Second Month Free * *Limited time only LISTINGS T UESDAY E VENING L to spray down the roof and foliage. By midnight, the fl ames had wrapped around the waterfall, lighting up the ridge like a glowing horse- shoe with the 620-foot falls gushing through the middle. In the next several hours, the fl ames marched relentlessly toward the lodge and the fi re- fi ghters kept the hoses turned on the line. The blaze eventually sur- rounded the lodge on three sides. It burned down to the sprinkler perimeter by about 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 THE DAILY ASTORIAN A patio, a 500-gallon propane tank, vegetation and other nearby structures. Do the same with fi re hoses. Draw water from a nearby creek and keep the ten- ders -- or water tankers with pumps and hoses — as extra reservoirs. Some crews began by help- ing lodge workers remove his- toric photographs, furniture, paintings, money and other valuables from the building and load them into vehicles. Some moved outdoor furni- ture and supplies inside. Other crews set up hoses and started Evening listings TUESDAY S EPTEMBER 19 A - Charter Astoria/ Seaside - L - Charter Long Beach 6:30 7 PM 7:30 8 PM 8:30 9 PM 9:30 10 PM 10:30 11 PM 11:30 KATU News at 6 (N) Jeopardy! 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Undercover Descendants 2 (2017, Fantasy) Cameron Boyce, Sofia Carson, Dove Cameron. (4:45) Forrest Gump (‘94, Comedy/Drama) Sally Field, Gary Sinise, Tom Hanks. Twilight (2008, Drama) Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Kristen Stewart. The 700 Club (5:50) Project Almanac (‘14) Amy Landecker, Jonny Weston. (:45) Project Almanac (2014, Sci-Fi) Amy Landecker, Jonny Weston. (:40) FXM Presents The Longest Ride (2015, Romance) Scott Eastwood, Alan Alda, Britt Robertson. Dance Moms Dance Moms Dance Moms: Dance and Chat Dance Moms (:05) So Sharp Dance Moms / (:15) Dance Moms Mariners Access MarinersPre-game MLB Baseball Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners Site: Safeco Field -- Seattle, Wash. (L) Post-game MLB Baseball Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners (5:00) FIFA Soccer International Friendly Boxing Premier Champions Card TBA (L) MLB Whiparound (L) Speak for Yourself Skip and Shannon: Undisputed Ink Master "Grim Inker" Ink Master "Pit Fall" Ink Master "Sell Out" Ink Master "Casting the First Stone" Ink Master "Marathon to the Finale" (N) Ink Master (N) Tattoo Night. Futurama Tosh.0 Tosh.0 Tosh.0 Tosh.0 Tosh.0 Tosh.0 Tosh.0 Tosh.0 (N) Jim Jefferies (N) The Daily Show (N) The Daily Show America: The Story of the Us Forged in Fire Forged in Fire: Cutting Deeper Enhanced episodes of 'Forged in Fire.' (:05) Forged in Fire Remini: Scientology Remini: Scientology Remini Scientology (N) Remini: Scientology (N) The Murder of Laci Peterson "Reasonable Doubt?" (:35) L. Remini The Little Couple "All Aboard!" The Little Couple "Countdown to the New Season" (N) Little "A Sheep Is Going to Eat Us!" (N) (:05) 7 Little Johnstons (:05) Little "A Sheep Is Going to Eat Us!" 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Anderson Cooper 360 CNN Tonight With Don Lemon CNN Tonight With Don Lemon Anderson Cooper 360 Anderson Cooper 360 CNN Tonight With Don Lemon The Five Hannity Tucker Carlson Tonight The Five Hannity Tucker Carlson Tonight Shark Tank Filthy Rich Guide Shark Tank Shark Tank Shark Tank Filthy Rich Guide Paid Program Watch What Happens Live Below Deck "The 1 Percenters" Below Deck Below Deck (N) A Night (SF) (N) A Night With My WatchWhat (N) Below Deck Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (‘55) Jennifer Jones, William Holden. The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit (1956, Drama) Jennifer Jones, Fredric March, Gregory Peck. (5:00) Good Morning, Miss Dove Movie xXx (2002, Action) Samuel L. Jackson, Marton Csokas, Vin Diesel. (4:30) Legion (‘10) The Green Hornet (2011, Action) Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, Seth Rogen. Face Off: Game Face (N) (5:30) Cattlemen Chasing-Madison Downunder Horseman. Chris Cox Rural Eve. News Ag PhD Cattlemen to Cattlemen Chasing-Madison Product Showcase
