REGION
Thursday, August 11, 2016
East Oregonian
Crews making
progress on
Gibbon Fire
RIETH
Juntura Complex Fire
reaches 24,301 acres
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Mill workers watch as lames engulf a log loader at Blue Mountain Lumber Products on Wednesday in Rieth.
Fire destroys lumber yard’s
second loader in a month
East Oregonian
Fire destroyed a lumber loader
Wednesday at Blue Mountain Lumber
Products near Pendleton.
Chad Dodge, who helps run the lumber
operation at 44112 Rieth Road, said this
was the second loader the business lost to
ire in a month. He described the event as
“horrible” for his family’s business and
said he could not talk further.
Pendleton Fire Chief Mike Ciraulo
said no one was harmed in the ire, but
the large piece of equipment was a total
loss.
Pendleton ire received the call-out at
2:21 p.m. for a ire in the lumber yard.
Ciraulo said lames totally engulfed the
loader, which was leaking large quantities
of fuel that also caught ire. Containing
the blaze took some effort, he said, and
required the use of the department’s
foam-spraying truck.
Once the ire was out, he said, crews
continued to make sure spilled fuel did
not re-ignite. He also said the department
The
Gibbon
Fire,
burning in the Blue Moun-
tains east of Pendleton, is
now 20 percent contained
as crews worked Tuesday
to strengthen ire lines.
Lightning touched off
the blaze earlier this week,
and it has since increased
to 194 acres near Meacham
Creek and Stumbough
Ridge. It is spread out
between the Umatilla
Indian Reservation and
Umatilla National Forest
in steep, rugged terrain.
Approximately 60 people
are battling the ire.
Light rain fell over the
area Tuesday, but warmer,
drier weather is expected
to set in for the rest of the
week. Crews will attempt
to conduct a burn back
on the ire’s north side to
draw the lames onto safer
ground for ireighters.
Mop-up will also continue
along the Union Paciic
Railroad tracks.
In other Eastern Oregon
ires (information from
InciWeb):
• Juntura Complex
— The region’s largest
ire complex has reached
24,301 acres as of
Wednesday morning. It
is made up of three ires
burning near the Malheur
River between Vale and
Burns, all of which were
started Aug. 7 by lightning.
The Simmons Gulch Fire,
located approximately 30
miles west of Vale, is now
60 percent contained; the
Sheep Rock Fire, six miles
south of Juntura, is 50
percent contained; and the
Rooster Comb Fire, near
Easterday Reservoir, is 95
percent contained. There
are 431 personnel on the
complex, though crews are
expected to be scaled back
as containment increases.
The ire is burning in
rangeland and sage grouse
habitat.
• Rail Fire — Located
ive miles west of Unity
in Baker County, the blaze
has grown to 11,405 acres
and remains 10 percent
contained. Fire lines have
been completed along
roadsides and in strategic
areas where containment
can be safely achieved.
There are 768 people,
25 crews, 10 dozers, 30
engines, 19 water tenders
and 7 helicopters are
assigned to the ire. The
cause has not been deter-
mined.
• Durkee Complex —
Made up of multiple light-
ning-sparked ires in Baker
County, near Interstate 84
west of Durkee. Together,
they total 850 acres and are
75 percent contained.
The Umatilla National
Forest advises there is a
chance for more thun-
derstorms, including dry
storms, in the forecast for
this weekend. To report
additional ires, call Blue
Mountain
Interagency
Dispatch at 541-963-7171
or dial 9-1-1.
HERMISTON
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A Pendleton ireighter attempts to put of a ire on a burning log loader at
Blue Mountain Lumber Products on Wednesday in Rieth.
notiied the Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality because of the fuel,
and the cause of the ire remains under
investigation.
New councilors consider conlicts
between jobs and elected ofice
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Chalmers
Fairley
commissions.
When faced with a
potential conlict of interest
on one of the commissions,
Fairley
has
typically
stated the conlict before
proceeding with a vote if
he determines that he will
make no inancial gain from
his action.
That process is in accor-
dance with Oregon law.
According to the Oregon
Government Standards and
Practices
Commission’s
guide for public oficials,
the state has two different
deinitions of conlict of
interest.
A potential conlict of
interest could have an impact
on the personal inances of
an elected oficial, a relative
or an associated business.
The
oficial
must
announce the conlict prior to
taking any action, including
voting or abstaining, but
otherwise is allowed to
participate.
As the regional coor-
dinator, Fairley said he
doesn’t control a budget,
instead connecting cities and
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!
Primmer
counties with state resources
from other departments.
Fairley said he wants
to use his economic
development experience to
aid the city, but not at the
expense of muddling the
line between his job and his
council position.
Councilor Paul Chalmers,
the Umatilla County director
of assessment and taxation,
has also run into conlict
issues since being appointed
to the council in February.
His name will appear on
the November ballot, but
it’s more or less a formality
because his opponent Jim
Swearingen has said he’s
no longer interested in the
position.
Noting his administrative
duties with Pendleton’s
enterprise zone, Chalmers
abstained from voting on a
resolution to establish the
city as an “E-Commerce”
zone at a July 5 meeting.
While most of Chalmers’
other dealings with Pend-
leton include budget resolu-
tions and inputting tax data,
he said he ran on a platform
of integrity and transparency
and doesn’t want to cast any
doubt on his motivations.
Chalmers will be joined
by another county director
when the council holds its
irst meeting in January.
Primmer leads Umatilla
County’s community justice
program, which oversees
post-incarceration supervi-
sion.
While Primmer doesn’t
expect his job to intersect
with city business too
often — community justice
regularly works with the
Pendleton Police Depart-
ment and coordinates work
crew opportunities with the
city — he wants to draw “a
clear, bright line” between
his job with the county and
his role on the city council.
Primmer plans to consult
with the city attorney and
other staff when potential
conlicts arise.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
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Because of the wonderful people in our community, we were
able to have the experience of a lifetime at the West Regional
Little League Softball Tournament in San Bernardino, CA
Police arrest three
burglary suspects
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON
The Pendleton City
Council’s 2017 freshman
class has an unusual quality.
All three men elected
to their irst term — Scott
Fairley, Dale Primmer and
Paul Chalmers — hold
high-level positions with
Umatilla County or state
government.
Fairley, Primmer and
Chalmers all have dealings
with the Pendleton city
government in their profes-
sional capacities and each
of them has considered how
they will approach ethical
conlicts in the next four
years.
Although he was only
elected in May and will
join the council in January,
Fairley might have the most
experience dealing with
conlicts of interest.
Fairley is the Eastern
Oregon coordinator for the
governor’s ofice of regional
solutions, meaning he helps
facilitate economic develop-
ment projects in the region.
Fairley and his ofice
have helped with Pendleton
projects before, including
the city’s efforts to demolish
the defunct Blue Mountain
Recovery Center and use
the bare land for potential
industrial use.
But Fairley also has
been long involved in
Pendleton politics, serving
on the planning and airport
Page 3A
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Hermiston
police
tracked down three suspects
Tuesday who are connected
to two recent burglaries.
Jose Antonio Rosales,
20, of Umatilla, Whitney
Shay Sickler, 25, of Herm-
iston, and Hector Alejandro
Ortiz-Guizar, 28, of Herm-
iston, are all in the Umatilla
County Jail, Pendleton.
Rosales faces initial
charges of two counts of
identity theft, two counts of
credit card fraud, one count
of irst-degree burglary, one
count of third-degree theft,
and possession of metham-
phetamine.
A Hermiston woman on
July 31 told police she was
asleep in her residence at
1280 W. Ridgeway Ave.,
Apt. B when someone
entered and took her
purse containing credit
cards and bank cards.
Police did not ind latent
ingerprints, according to
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston, but photo-
graphed shoe prints outside
the window.
She then found someone
used her bank card at three
Hermiston locations — the
Wal-Mart Supercenter, a
Shell station and McDon-
ald’s. Edmiston reported
an oficer viewed security
video at one establishment
and recognized Rosales
from a recent trafic stop.
Police found Rosales at
about 5:20 p.m. Tuesday,
arrested him on probable
cause and took him to
the police department for
questioning. During the
interview, according to the
report, he confessed to the
burglary and other charges.
He also had a glass pipe in
his right front pocket with
a “burnt/white powdery
residue” that he claimed he
was holding for a friend.
Police
put
Sickler
and Guizar at the scene
of a July 24 burglary at
a vacant rental home at
265 N.W. Fifth St., Herm-
iston. The report states
someone entered through
an unlocked front window
and stole cleaning supplies,
tools and a mirror worth a
total of $475.
Police
photographed
shoe and tire prints at the
scene, and a next-door
neighbor told oficers she
saw two people about 4
a.m. leave the house. She
identiied one as Sickler.
Hermiston police even-
tually found and arrested
Whitney Sickler, 25, at her
home at 253 W. Ridgeway
Ave., Hermiston, according
to the report, and during
questioning she identiied
Guizar of 260 W. Ridgeway
Ave., Apt. B, Hermiston, as
the man at the scene with
her.
Police contacted Guizar,
the report states, and he
admitted to being inside
the residence with Sickler.
They face charges of
irst-degree burglary and
second-degree theft.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.
