3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2018
Wildlife officials slow
to help woman treed
in forest by wolves
Records show
initial hesitance
to send copter
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington state wild-
life
managers
initially
opposed sending a helicop-
ter or a search-and-rescue
team to save a woman treed
by wolves in the Okano-
gan-Wenatchee
National
Forest, according to record-
ings and summaries of emer-
gency calls.
The state Department of
Natural Resources pushed
back and prepared to dis-
patch an air crew that even-
tually executed a swift res-
cue. Notes from a call
between Department of Nat-
ural Resources dispatcher Jill
Jones and a wildlife officer
summarized the Washing-
ton Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s position, and her
position, shortly before the
helicopter launched.
“No helicopter. Federally
listed species. Three WDFW
personnel saying so,” accord-
ing to call log.
“We are more concerned
for her life than the listed ani-
mal,” Jones told the wildlife
officer. “He indicated that
she is safe up in the tree. … I
told him that we do not know
how safe she is. I don’t know
how stout the tree is, and if
the limbs will continue to
hold her or how long she can
hold on.”
Minutes later, Department
of Fish and Wildlife and
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice officials, at the request
of Department of Natural
Resources wildfire super-
visor Chuck Turley, OK’d
an air rescue. Within a half
hour, the woman was safe in
the Department of Natural
Resources helicopter piloted
by Devin Gooch. The wolves
had scattered as Gooch flew
overhead before landing in a
meadow.
The swift air rescue —
reaching the woman by foot
would have taken two to
three hours, officials esti-
mated — ended a hectic 45
minutes in which state, fed-
eral and local agencies dis-
cussed what to do.
Department of Fish and
Wildlife wolf policy coor-
dinator Donny Martorello
said Wednesday that wildlife
biologists familiar with wolf
behavior thought the woman
was not in immediate dan-
ger. “I think from their lens
they were thinking there was
a simpler solution,” he said.
“To tell the helicopter not
to go was not the right call,
and we have to own that,”
Martorello said. “The right
call was to send the helicop-
ter. It goes without saying we
value human life over every-
thing else.”
Okanogan County, in
north-central Washington,
has had relatively few wolf
incidents compared to Ferry
and Stevens counties to the
east. Sheriff Frank Rogers
said the incident went “side-
ways,” leaving him angry
that the Department of Fish
and Wildlife told the coun-
ty’s search-and-rescue team
to “stand down.”
The next day, a fed-
eral biologist warned depu-
ties hiking to view the scene
of the incident to not harass
wolves, he said.
“I don’t know who’s mak-
ing the calls and telling us we
can’t be involved. You can’t
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tell me not to be involved.
It’s my county,” Rogers said.
“Whether it’s wolves or a
guy with a gun, we’re going
to go.”
Rogers said that he
wanted deputies to do a fol-
low-up investigation to
assess the threat to public
safety.
“I just don’t want another
incident,” he said. “All we
want to know is what we’re
dealing with.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service spokeswoman Ann
Froschauer said the federal
agency has no opposition to
the sheriff’s office doing its
own investigation. “It’s cer-
tainly the role of local law
enforcement,” she said.
Authorities have not
released the woman’s name,
citing her wish to not be
identified. “We would love
to talk to the woman,” Rog-
ers said.
Martorello said Tur-
ley, who works in the same
state building in Olympia,
came to his office and said
the Department of Natural
Resources wanted to send a
helicopter. Martorello said he
put Turley on the phone with
Gregg Kurz, the lead carni-
vore biologist in the state for
the federal Fish and Wildlife
Service. Kurz approved the
helicopter.
Froschauer said she hap-
pened to be waiting with
Kurz for a meeting on grizzly
bears to start when he got the
call. “Gregg said absolutely
go for it. There was not hesi-
tation on our part,” she said.
Before getting clear-
ance from the wildlife agen-
cies, Department of Natural
Resources wildfire opera-
tions manager Aaron Schmidt
already had approved send-
ing the helicopter, as had the
Forest Service, according to
state records.
At one point, according
to call logs, the agency was
prepared to “launch the rotor
and will deal with aftermath
of WDFW later.”
Shortly before the heli-
copter lifted off, Jones,
the dispatcher, called and
updated
an
Okanogan
County dispatcher on the
rescue.
“When I talked to Fish
and Wildlife, they said,
‘Nope. That’s not search and
rescue. That’s just us. And no
helicopter,” Jones said.
“For goodness sakes,
somebody needs to figure it
out,” the county dispatcher
said.
“I don’t know how long
this girl can hang in the
tree,” Jones said. “ … so
we’re finally just launching a
helicopter.”
The flight from Omak to
the woman took 14 minutes,
according to Department of
Natural Resources.
Eric Gardner, the assis-
tant director for the wildlife
program at the Department
of Fish and Wildlife, said
the department will work to
be prepared if there’s a sim-
ilar incident. “I know it will
be a topic of conversation
and area of improvement,”
he said.
Man who drove truck into
Columbia River sentenced
Erofeeff is
serving time in
separate case
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
A man who led police on
a car chase before driving a
truck into the Columbia River
in December was sentenced
Wednesday to more than 1½
years in prison.
Timofey Erofeeff, 28, of
Scotts Mills,
was
spot-
ted jiggling
locks
on
two vessels,
including
the Zephyr,
a boat the
docked
at
Timofey
North Tongue
Erofeeff
Point. Ron
MicJan, who was sleep-
ing in the Zephyr at the time,
reported the incident to Asto-
ria police, but Erofeeff left by
the time officers arrived. Offi-
cers returned about an hour
later when Erofeeff was spot-
ted again.
MicJan told police he
wanted to pursue charges
against Erofeeff, who was on
post-prison supervision for an
unlawful use of a motor vehi-
cle conviction in Deschutes
County. Police contacted Ero-
feeff’s probation officer, who
advised them that Erofeeff had
recently been arrested for bur-
glary in Multnomah County
and had not been checking in
with Deschutes County Parole
and Probation.
Officer Kevin Berry then
approached Erofeeff as he
sat in the driver’s seat of a
red Ford F-150, according to
court records. Erofeeff peered
into the driver’s side window,
shifted the truck into gear and
sped off.
Erofeeff turned onto a
closed pier and started to
accelerate. He launched the
truck off the pier at an esti-
mated 45 mph.
When officers reached the
Coast Guard
Ensign Kira Adams with the Coast Guard’s Incident Man-
agement Team in Astoria observes employees with WCT
Marine & Construction lift a red Ford F-150 truck out of
the Columbia River in December and onto a dock at North
Tongue Point using a crane.
end of the pier, Erofeeff had
exited the truck and began
swimming north toward an
island about 1,000 feet away.
As the truck was sinking,
debris was floating around and
a large gas slick appeared at
the water’s surface.
After swimming about
600 feet in the icy water, he
began struggling and eventu-
ally returned to the dock as he
was tossed a life jacket and flo-
tation ring.
Employees from nearby
shipwright WCT Marine &
Construction Inc. pulled him
out of the water and into a
skiff before taking him to
shore about 20 minutes after
he entered the frigid water. He
was taken to Columbia Memo-
rial Hospital in Astoria and
treated for hypothermia and
minor injuries.
When asked why he fled
from police, Erofeeff said
he thought to himself, “‘I’m
not getting arrested today,’”
according to court records.
WTC Marine located the
sunken truck and pulled it
from the river the next day
with a crane. Deputy District
Attorney Dawn Buzzard said
Wednesday that WTC Marine
has been reimbursed for all or
most of the cost of the cleanup
through a grant.
Erofeeff was indicted on
charges of offensive littering,
first-degree burglary, attempt
to elude police with a vehicle,
reckless driving, interfering
with a peace officer, third-de-
gree escape and second-degree
criminal trespass. A charge of
driving under the influence of
intoxicants — for metham-
phetamine — was later added
to the indictment.
“Not to make light of it,”
said a half-smiling retired Cir-
cuit Court Judge Rick Knapp,
who spent Wednesday filling
in for Judge Dawn McIntosh
at the Clatsop County Court-
house, “but is the offensive lit-
tering from him driving into
the water?”
Buzzard confirmed that it
was.
Erofeeff eventually agreed
to a plea deal. He entered an
Alford plea — meaning he
asserts innocence but recog-
nizes prosecutors may have
sufficient evidence for a con-
viction — to offensive lit-
tering, third-degree escape,
attempting to elude a police
officer and attempt to commit
a class A felony.
He was sentenced to more
than 1½ years in prison, which
will run concurrently with a
3½- year prison sentence he is
serving from two first-degree
burglary convictions in Clack-
amas County.
“This has been a drawn-
out plea negotiation involving
multiple counties,” said Kris
Kaino, Erofeeff’s court-ap-
pointed attorney.
Erofeeff
appeared
at
Wednesday’s sentencing hear-
ing via phone from the Coffee
Creek Correctional Facility in
Wilsonville and thanked those
who pulled him and the truck
from the river. “I just want to
apologize for any, you know,
trouble or burden I may have
caused,” he said.
Prior to his arrest, Erofeeff
told officers he had permission
from the Coast Guard to be
in the area. He reiterated that
position Wednesday,
“It was kind of a shaky situ-
ation and a misunderstanding,”
Erofeeff said. “I was never try-
ing to pollute anything. I just
want to move on with my life.”
Erofeeff will forfeit the
truck, which sustained severe
damage. Toward the end of the
hearing, and before that deci-
sion was made, Erofeeff asked
Knapp if it would be possible
for him to collect the remains
of the truck.
“Yeah, good luck with
that,” Knapp said.
Brown says Wasco County wildfire might be arson
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Gov.
Kate Brown says state inves-
tigators will help determine
if a wildfire that killed a trac-
tor operator was intention-
ally set.
The governor said today
that the Wasco County sher-
iff has asked for help in find-
ing out what caused the blaze
that has burned nearly 80
square miles in the north-cen-
tral part of the state.
Referring to talk in the
communities
involved,
Brown
told
reporters:
“Clearly, you’re hearing that
there is a likelihood of arson,
so our agencies are going to
help in that investigation.”
Doug Grafe of the Oregon
Department of Forestry told
KGW that local police were
investigating the blaze as a
suspected arson.
Authorities found one
person dead Wednesday near
a burned-out tractor. Investi-
gators believe the person was
likely trying to create a fire-
break, or a strip of cleared
land to stop the spread of
fire.
The blaze near The Dalles
started Tuesday and spread
into a rural farming area with
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Dozens of homes have
been evacuated because of
the blaze.
Brown declared a state
of emergency Wednesday,
marking the unofficial start
to a Pacific Northwest fire
season that’s expected to be
worse than normal.
Clatsop Post 12
Saturday , July 21 st
92
nd Birthday of the
Doughboy Monument
“Doughboy Over the Top at Cantigny”
on
Presented to the City of Astoria
by Clatsop Post 12, The American Legion
July 21, 1926
3 PM:
4 PM:
Program - Guest Speaker
Jimmie Pearson - Library Director
Baked Chicken Dinner/
Donations/Birthday Cake
Program to include:
• Displays on Post 12 and Cantigny, France
• Memorial of the Fallen in The Great War
• Charter Members of Clatsop Post 12 and others
that served
All Will Take Place at Clatsop Post 12
All is open to the Public
American Legion | Clatsop Post 12
1132 Exchange Street