A7
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, OcTObER 26, 2019
House investigators subpoena
more administration officials
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo
A firefighter prepares to fight a wildfire as it overtakes a home Thursday in Santa Clarita.
Fires rage across California
as utilities shut off power
By JOCELYN GECKER
and ROBERT JABLON
Associated Press
GEYSERVILLE, Calif. — Fast-grow-
ing fires throughout California forced tens of
thousands of people to evacuate their homes
Thursday as dry winds and high heat fed
flames and fears in the state still jittery from
devastating wildfires in the past two years.
The dramatic fires and evacuations —
near Los Angeles and in the wine country of
Northern California — came against a back-
drop of power shutoffs that utility companies
said were necessary to stop high winds from
toppling trees or blowing debris into power
lines and starting fires.
The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas &
Electric Co., warned that more widespread
blackouts this weekend were expected to shut
power across much of the San Francisco Bay
Area. It would be the third major outage this
month.
Officials said they did not yet know how
many homes had burned in the state, and that
no immediate injuries were reported. It is not
clear how any of the blazes began.
In Southern California, two fires rolled
along the parched foothills north of Los
Angeles, forcing at least 40,000 people to flee
neighborhoods where thousands of homes
have sprung up in recent decades.
At least six homes burned as the blazes
swept through dry brush to the edge of com-
munities in the Santa Clarita area. Winds
gusting to about 40 mph pushed the flames,
and enormous plumes of smoke were visible
for miles. People used hoses to try to protect
their properties.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl
Osby said Thursday evening there was no
containment of either blaze.
Hot and dry Santa Ana winds led South-
ern California Edison to cut power to more
than 31,000 customers. It was considering
additional power cuts to more than 386,000
customers.
In Northern California wine country,
authorities ordered 2,000 people to evac-
uate as a wildfire burned 49 buildings and
exploded to 25 square miles, whipped up by
the strong winds that had prompted PG&E
to impose blackouts across the region. It was
5% contained.
The outages affected half a million people
or nearly 180,000 customers in 17 counties,
most of whom lost power Wednesday after-
noon and had it restored by Thursday eve-
ning, PG&E official Keith Stephens said.
While the cause of fire wasn’t yet deter-
mined PG&E reported a problem with a
transmission tower near the spot where the
fire ignited. The company filed a report with
the state utilities commission saying it found
a “broken jumper” on a transmission tower
around 9:20 p.m. Wednesday; it was in the
same area where the fire started minutes later.
PG&E CEO Bill Johnson said it was too
soon to know if the faulty equipment started
the fire outside Geyserville. He said the tower
was 43 years old, which is not uncommon
in the industry, and had been inspected four
times in the past two years and appeared to
have been in “excellent condition.”
Officials ordered an evacuation of Geyser-
ville, home to about 900 people and a popu-
lar stop for wine country tourists, along with
nearby residents. The blaze threatened some
of the area’s famed wineries and the River
Rock Casino as flames raged on the outskirts
of town.
A series of deadly blazes tore through the
same area in Northern California wine coun-
try two years ago, killing 44 people.
Among those fleeing Geyserville was
81-year-old Harry Bosworth, who awoke
before sunrise to find a firetruck and firefight-
ers in his driveway. As he and his wife drove
off, flames surrounded their driveway and
their barn caught fire.
“I could see the fire coming, so we got the
heck out of there,” Bosworth said after escap-
ing to his daughter’s house in the neighboring
town of Healdsburg.
Julia Jackson of Geyserville-based Jack-
son Family Wines, which owns more than 40
wine labels and thousands of acres of vine-
yards, posted on Instagram that her home was
“burnt down to the ground.”
“Stuff is just stuff. Thank God I’m alive,”
she wrote. Jackson, who founded a climate
change conference, said such fires are why
she is doing the work.
The fire started Wednesday night near the
Geysers, the world’s largest geothermal field,
where nearly two dozen power plants draw
steam from more than 350 mountain wells to
create electricity, said California Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection incident com-
mander Mike Parkes.
It was fueled overnight by 76 mph winds
in rugged terrain that was hard to reach, he
said. Some people were refusing to leave
despite the danger, Sonoma County Sheriff
Mark Essick said.
“Please heed our evacuation order,” he
said in a televised news conference. “We
really need to be able to fight the fire, rather
than worrying about rescuing you.”
The fire raged amid rolling blackouts insti-
tuted after utility electrical equipment was
blamed for setting several blazes in recent
years that killed scores of people and burned
thousands of homes.
Forecasts for the weekend showed possi-
ble wind gusts of up to 80 mph, prompting
PG&E officials to warn of more shutdowns,
likely starting Saturday for most of the San
Francisco Bay Area, excluding the city itself.
“We do think that it will be the strongest
offshore wind even this season, by a large
margin,” said PG&E meteorologist Scott
Strenfel, adding that it will be “possibly the
strongest offshore wind event we have seen
in years.”
Johnson, the PG&E CEO, said it was too
soon to put a duration on the weekend out-
ages but local officials reported they had
already been notified of shutoffs expected to
last from 10 p.m. Saturday to noon Monday.
SEVENDAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
WASHINGTON — Impeachment
investigators issued subpoenas Friday to
three more Trump administration offi-
cials, demanding their testimony in the
probe of President Donald Trump’s efforts
to force Ukraine to feed him damaging
information about his Democratic politi-
cal opponents.
The chairs of the House committees
leading the impeachment inquiry sub-
poenaed two officials of the White House
Office of Management and Budget: act-
ing director Russell Vought and Michael
Duffey, who oversees national security
programs.
They also subpoenaed State Depart-
ment counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl.
Investigators asked all three earlier this
month to testify, but none have appeared.
As House investigators pushed for-
ward, Trump continued his defiance
with another round of combative verbal
volleys.
He predicted that if the House
impeaches him and the Republican-run
Senate holds a trial on whether to remove
him from office, he would prevail “for one
reason: I did nothing wrong.”
Speaking to reporters as he left the
White House for an appearance in South
Carolina, he said people are “angry”
because “this isn’t a takedown of the pres-
ident, this is a takedown of the Republi-
can Party.”
He also renewed his assertion that the
impeachment effort is endangering the
economy. He said that “if anything ever
happened,” the result would be “a reces-
sion, depression the likes of which this
country hasn’t seen.”
The Trump administration has refused
to make its officials available for deposi-
tions in the investigation and resisted sup-
plying documents as well. But witnesses
have been appearing anyway after they
are issued subpoenas, often on a daily
basis for hourslong appearances behind
closed doors.
“The committees therefore have no
choice but to issue a subpoena compel-
ling your mandatory appearance,” the let-
ters read.
Investigators want to know why nearly
$400 million in military aid to Ukraine
was delayed, even though it was approved
Susan Walsh/AP Photo
President Donald Trump talks to reporters
on the South Lawn of the White House on
Friday.
by Congress and signed into law by
Trump.
Ukraine has relied on U.S. help during
a five-year war with Russian-backed sep-
aratists in the country’s east, where the
rebels control territory. More than 13,000
people have died in the fighting.
Brechbuhl is said to have been the
source of a mysterious packet of materials
that House investigators were given. Rep.
Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has said the pack-
age contained information from debunked
conspiracy theories about Ukraine’s role
in the 2016 election. The significance of
the packet is unclear.
Others have testified that Trump was
demanding investigations of Democrats
in exchange for the aid and for an Oval
Office meeting coveted by Ukraine’s new
president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
The committees want Duffey to appear
on Nov. 5, and Vought and Brechbuhl the
following day.
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THURSDAY
FRIDAY
REGIONAL FORECAST
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Seattle
58 38
Mostly sunny
57 35
55 35
Mostly sunny
Partly sunny
52 34
53 36
Plenty of sun
Mostly sunny
54 37
55 38
Mostly cloudy
Plenty of
sunshine
Aberdeen
Olympia
56/33
55/37
Wenatchee
Tacoma
Moses
Lake
55/32
ALMANAC
UNDER THE SKY
TODAY'S TIDES
Astoria through Thursday
Tonight’s Sky: Double clusters of
Perseus nearly over head before
midnight.
Astoria / Port Docks
Temperatures
High/low ................................ 65/42
Normal high/low .................. 59/43
Record high .................. 75 in 1941
Record low .................... 32 in 1954
Precipitation
Thursday ................................. 0.00”
Month to date ........................ 6.92”
Normal month to date ......... 4.16”
Year to date .......................... 38.71”
Normal year to date ........... 44.40”
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Time
12:03 a.m. 7.8 6:25 a.m. 0.0
12:32 p.m. 8.6 7:00 p.m. -0.2
Cape Disappointment
12:07 p.m. 8.3 5:33 a.m. 0.0
none
6:10 p.m. -0.4
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
Hammond
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today .................. 7:47 a.m.
Sunset tonight ............... 6:11 p.m.
Moonrise today .............. 5:39 a.m.
Moonset today .............. 5:57 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
12:18 p.m. 8.9 5:54 a.m. 0.0
none
6:30 p.m. -0.3
Warrenton
12:27 p.m. 9.0 6:09 a.m. 0.1
none
6:44 p.m. -0.2
Knappa
12:40 a.m. 8.0 7:26 a.m. 0.0
1:09 p.m. 8.8 8:01 p.m. -0.2
Depoe Bay
Oct 27 Nov 4 Nov 12 Nov 19
11:21 a.m. 9.0 5:02 a.m.
11:49 p.m. 8.2 5:40 p.m.
0.2
0.0
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Honolulu
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
New York City
Phoenix
San Francisco
Wash., DC
Today
Hi/Lo/W
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
73/62/t
60/48/pc
53/45/r
67/47/s
68/24/s
89/76/pc
69/48/pc
88/60/s
89/79/t
63/55/pc
85/58/s
74/55/s
67/61/pc
75/53/pc
55/54/r
58/40/pc
76/50/s
30/13/sn
87/75/pc
77/56/s
73/53/pc
90/79/pc
68/57/r
87/58/s
75/53/s
74/56/r
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy,
c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms,
r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice.
53/30
Hermiston
The Dalles 58/31
Enterprise
Pendleton 43/21
51/29
59/32
La Grande
45/24
56/34
NATIONAL CITIES
High (ft.) Time Low (ft.)
47/26
Kennewick Walla Walla
53/30 Lewiston
59/31
55/32
Salem
Pullman
58/27
Longview
58/38 Portland
58/36
46/27
Yakima 56/30
55/31
Astoria
Spokane
55/31
Corvallis
58/33
Albany
57/32
John Day
Eugene
Bend
58/33
48/23
44/26
Ontario
57/32
Caldwell
Burns
48/18
53/27
Medford
61/31
Klamath Falls
56/24
City
Baker City
Brookings
Ilwaco
Newberg
Newport
Today
Hi/Lo/W
48/22/pc
64/48/s
57/41/s
56/35/pc
56/42/s
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
46/16/s
64/45/s
57/37/s
58/29/s
57/38/s
City
North Bend
Roseburg
Seaside
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Today
Hi/Lo/W
59/40/s
58/34/s
57/38/s
56/32/s
56/34/pc
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
62/39/s
60/32/s
58/35/s
59/27/s
56/31/s