The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, August 17, 2018, WEEKEND EDITION, Page 7A, Image 7

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    7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2018
US vows to work with states to fight wildfires
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — As
wildfires choke California and
other Western states, the Trump
administra-
tion pledged
Thursday to
work more
closely with
state
and
local
offi-
cials to pre-
Sonny
vent wildfires
Perdue
from
ever
starting.
Agriculture
Secretary
Sonny Perdue said the For-
est Service and other agencies
will step up efforts to cut down
small trees and underbrush and
set controlled fires to remove
trees that serve as fuel for cat-
astrophic blazes, including
a series of deadly fires that
have spread through drought-
parched forests and rural com-
munities in California.
Six firefighters have died in
those wildfires.
Perdue, who toured the Cal-
ifornia fires this week, said
they were “stark reminders of
the immense forest-fire health
crisis in this country, and the
urgent need to dramatically
increase our preventative forest
treatments.”
While officials have boosted
forest management efforts in
recent years, more needs to be
done, Perdue said.
“To truly protect our for-
ests, we must increase the num-
ber and the size of our (preven-
tion) projects across the local
landscape and across boundar-
ies, and frankly we can’t do this
by ourselves,” Perdue said at a
news conference at the Capitol.
Perdue pledged a “shared
stewardship” approach in
which the Forest Service,
Elias Funez/The Union
Cal Fire bulldozer 2341 pushes through a mound of burning
vegetation Wednesday in Grass Valley, Calif.
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment and other federal agen-
cies work with state, local and
tribal officials to fight and pre-
vent wildfires.
Interior Secretary Ryan
Zinke,
meanwhile,
said
national forests have suffered
from “gross mismanagement”
for decades.
“The fuel loads are up. The
density of our forests is histor-
ical. We have dead and dying
timber,” Zinke said at a Cab-
inet meeting at the White
House.
“This is unacceptable that
year after year we’re watch-
ing our forests burn, our habitat
destroyed and our communi-
ties devastated,” Zinke added.
“And it is absolutely prevent-
able. Public lands are for every-
body to enjoy and not just held
hostage by these special-inter-
est groups.”
The focus on wildfire comes
as California and other states
face longer and more destruc-
tive wildfire seasons because
of drought, warmer weather
attributed to climate change
and homes built deeper into
forests. Yosemite National
Park’s scenic valley in North-
ern California reopened Tues-
day after a 20-day, smoked-
forced closure, and hundreds
of people were evacuated from
Glacier National Park in Mon-
tana after a wildfire destroyed
at least nine homes and cab-
ins in one of the park’s historic
districts.
In Washington state, mean-
while, officials have distributed
masks to combat unhealthy air
filled with smoke from wild-
fires that have blanketed the
Northwest.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.,
said the crisis underscores the
importance of preventing wild-
fires. “It is unacceptable to me
to have Northwest seniors and
young people being afraid to
open their doors in the morn-
ing because they are afraid of
smoke,” he said.
Longer and hotter wildfire
seasons are the “new normal,”
said Sen. Maria Cantwell,
D-Wash., “and we have to meet
it with a very, very aggressive
response” that includes drones,
satellites and other technology.
Not all efforts will be pop-
ular, Cantwell said, noting that
some Seattle-area residents
opposed controlled burns this
spring because they feared the
smoke.
Firefighters: ‘We don’t normally end up right in front of the flame front’
shadowed by what everyone
agreed was the best part of the
job: gratitude.
“You see these things hap-
pen on TV, but until you’re
actually there, meeting the peo-
ple you’re helping face to face
… that kind of gratitude you
can’t understand or see unless
you’re there.”
Continued from Page 1A
large spot fire and got his first
chance to engage a wildfire
directly.
Over the next four days, the
main work for the task force
was to patrol for spot fires and
protect homes by clearing out
surrounding brush and wetting
down yards and rooftops.
But during the night of
Aug. 2, the task force was sent
out to a road that turned out to
be one of the main fronts of the
now-contained 20,000 acre fire.
Spencer remembers all the fire-
fighters falling silent, as every-
one started to pull line and pre-
pare for the flames creeping
forward 200 yards away. Even-
tually, the wind shifted in their
favor.
“We don’t normally end
up right in front of the flame
front,” Spencer said. “It’s a
very surreal experience to have
flames shooting up over the tree
line at you.”
One of the most reward-
ing aspects of the job is get-
ting to meet the people you are
serving, Savage said. In Dufur,
much of what was being pro-
tected was farmland, and fire-
fighters were often working
side by side with ranchers.
“They don’t have a bunch
of rules and standards to follow
like we do. They are just kind
of winging it with their own
equipment,” Savage said. “It
A new reality
Josh Como
Ron Britton, left, works in the smoky haze of the South Valley Fire in August.
was amazing to see them risk
their own work trucks and lives
to help out their neighbors.”
Though the days and nights
are long, often ending only in
a few hours of sleep in a tent,
what makes going on trips dif-
ficult is rarely the firefighting
itself.
For James Hutchinson, of
the Gearhart Volunteer Fire
Department, watching some-
one’s cash crop singe into black
dust was often a humbling and
somber experience.
“I remember on one fire
someone came up to me and
asked to use my phone to call
home. Their phone wasn’t
working and they needed to let
someone know the farm was
gone,” Hutchinson said. “In
those moments you take a step
into their shoes, and it can be
hard. But you have to make it a
motivation and remember you
are there to help.”
Gearhart Fire Lt. Josh
Como, who has been deployed
three times, said leaving
home can be difficult. Find-
ing employers who are flexi-
ble enough to allow unplanned
deployments, as well as balanc-
ing family dynamics, can be a
challenge.
“Life goes on while you are
out there,” Como said. “Every-
thing is going on at home, plus
the people you love are worry-
ing about whether you’re OK.
That’s why it’s important to
take lots of photos to let them
know you’re safe.”
But the challenges are over-
With conflagration calls on
the rise, local fire departments
are adjusting to a new reality.
Every request from the state
means a local chief is making
a judgment call on whether the
department can afford to lose
personnel — often at the height
of the summer tourism season,
when first responders are the
busiest.
“The biggest challenge is
making sure that when we send
crews out we’re making sure
there’s enough crew to respond
to our own emergencies,”
Lewis and Clark Fire Chief Jeff
Golightly said.
Fire departments have yet
to face any issues answer-
ing emergency calls, as they
all have an interagency agree-
ment to help each other. But
whether the department has
enough people available is
something Gearhart Fire
Chief Bill Eddy always has
on his mind.
“That’s always a concern
with a volunteer department.
In a volunteer department
you have no way to backfill
when people go,” Eddy said.
“You just plan, train and pre-
pare the best you can.”
Fire departments have
also had to adjust how they
budget as the costs of con-
flagration continues to rise.
While the state reimburses
local departments, local
departments have to be ready
to foot the bill ahead of time
— some now even creating
a line item in the budget in
anticipation. Some depart-
ments, like Gearhart, are still
waiting on some portions
of reimbursement for work
done at the California fires,
and have had to request tem-
porary general fund transfers
to make it through.
Golightly estimates more
than half a million dol-
lars was paid out to Clatsop
County departments last year.
While there may be some
inconvenience,
Cannon
Beach Fire Chief Matt Ben-
edict thinks the connections
and skills volunteers bring
back from these trips make the
county more prepared.
“A lot of the citizens are
thanking us for helping out,
and offering to be there for us
if we ever need help,” Ben-
edict said. “I love getting to
send people out. You don’t get
to use all those skills you train
for until you’re out there.”
Tolls: Policy advisory committee
to study the issue over eight months
Case: Shooting remains under investigation
Continued from Page 1A
The
transportation
department convened a pol-
icy advisory committee to
study the issue over eight
months. The committee in
July recommended start-
ing a pilot program to toll
all lanes of I-5 between
Northeast Going/Alberta
Street and Southwest Mult-
nomah Boulevard and the
Abernethy Bridge on I-205.
Revenue from the bridge
toll would go toward pay-
ing for construction of a
third lane on the two-lane
stretches of I-205, from
Highway 99 East to Stafford
Road.
Revenue from other
tolls would be dedicated to
expanding capacity, increas-
ing the number of people in
each vehicle or augmenting
traffic.
The idea behind a pilot
program is to show how
the tolls work at changing
driver behavior and reduc-
ing congestion, committee
members have said.
One option is to make the
tolls variable so that prices
would be greater during
In the background, the
radio station 93.3 “The
Rock” FM boomed — a nod
to Case’s habit of blaring
rock ‘n’ roll music at the gas
station during his shift.
Around
a
barbecue,
friends remembered a man
who worked hard, and
“would give the shirt off
his back” to help anyone he
thought needed it.
They remembered his love
for his green motorcycle,
which always had a stuffed
Gorilla on the back to show
his company pride, and his
extreme attention to detail
when it came to making sure
the store was spotless.
“I’m the manager, and he
was probably there more than
I was,” Jones laughed.
Now, the gas station is
quiet.
“It went from alive to
feeling stale. (Gorilla Gas)
has lost a lot of energy,” said
Katie Kirtley, who owns the
gas station. “He brought a lot
of drive to make it better.”
Case was scheduled to
work the day he died. Jones
and Kirtley remember hear-
ing rumors of a shooting at
higher levels of traffic and
lower or nonexistent during
low congestion periods,
such as late at night. That
strategy encourages drivers
to get on the freeways when
traffic levels are lower.
The
recommendation
also calls for measures
to mitigate the impact on
low-income residents, such
as increasing access to pub-
lic transportation and finan-
cial assistance.
It would take several
years to implement tolling
just for the pilot program,
transportation officials have
said.
Meanwhile, Gladstone
Planning
Commissioner
Les Poole and Republican
state Reps. Mike Nearman,
of Independence, and Julie
Parrish, of West Linn, are
trying to get an initiative on
the 2020 ballot that would
require voter approval for
tolls on existing roadways
in certain circumstances.
Initiative
Petition
10 would require voter
approval for tolling existing
roadways when proceeds of
the tolls are used to pay only
for “new net capacity” on
the road or bridge on which
the toll is assessed. That
essentially means building
additional lanes.
For example, under the
initiative, the state could
toll new lanes on I-5 with-
out seeking approval from
voters, but if the state wants
to toll the existing lanes,
voter approval would be
required.
The commission made its
decision Thursday during a
meeting in John Day.
The commission some-
times takes its meetings on
the road to reach out to con-
stituents around the state
and see the state of the
transportation system. Last
month, the commission con-
vened a listening session in
Portland to hear about the
I-5 and I-205 tolling pro-
posal. Forty-three members
of the public came forward
to speak. There were no
public comments at Thurs-
day’s meeting.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Continued from Page 1A
Bakery: Tilanders are in no hurry to sell
Continued from Page 1A
“We’d like to see someone
pick up where we left off,”
she said.
The announcement comes
after Astoria’s other longtime
bakery, Danish Maid, closed
last year shortly after the
death of co-owner and baker
John Lindstrom. The down-
town space has since been
turned into Good to Go, a
gourmet lunch counter.
The
5,000-square-foot,
1928 Home Baking Co. store-
front at 2845 Marine Drive
has been listed for $400,000
with local real estate agent
Victor Kee. The entire busi-
ness, including the building,
name, equipment, and online
presence, is available for
$650,000.
In the bakery’s spacious
backroom is a museum of
working, World War-II vin-
tage equipment, including a
10-rack commercial oven fill-
ing most of the former garage.
“This place is big,” Jim
Tilander said. “A young per-
son could run four baker-
ies and deliver all around the
region.”
He also sees potential to
restore the historic building
and add a restaurant, while
expanding the export of the
bakery’s cinnamon toast, a
specialty shipped to indepen-
dent grocery stores.
In no hurry to sell, the
Tilanders are waiting to see
who steps forward to poten-
tially continue Home Bak-
ing’s long history, even offer-
ing to teach a new owner
their recipes and production
methods.
“I’m just going to list it
and see what happens,” Jim
Tilander said.
Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian
A sign marks the celebra-
tion of life for Cashus Dean
Case, who was killed last
month by Seaside police.
the RV park where he lived,
hoping it wasn’t their friend.
After calling him repeatedly
to no avail, Kirtley headed
to the Seaside Police Depart-
ment, where she was notified
of Case’s death.
It was disorienting for
both Jones and Kirtley —
who knew Case as a bombas-
tic but ultimately sensitive
and kind man — to imagine
him dying this way.
“We’re all just so con-
fused. We don’t know why
this happened,” Jones said.
“That’s what is killing me.
Justified (shooting) or not,
that’s what is getting us — the
not knowing. Could some-
thing have gone differently?”
The shooting, which
occurred after Case helped a
man injured in a dog attack,
remains under investigation.
Case’s father, Ken Case
Sr., said nothing will take
away the pain he feels from
losing his son. But getting
some answers would help.
“All I want is justice,” he
said. “If that happens, I walk.
But if I don’t get justice, and
this isn’t done fairly, I won’t
be quiet.”