REGION
Friday, August 19, 2016
East Oregonian
OREGON WILDFIRES
Campgrounds near Paisley evacuated
PORTLAND (AP) —
Oregon’s wildire season is
picking up just as much of
the state endures a stretch of
triple-digit heat.
A ire west of Sunriver led
oficials to warn people in a
subdivision they might have
to evacuate. In south-central
Oregon, campers Thursday
were ordered to leave camp-
grounds along the Chewaucan
River because of a wildire
burning near Paisley in the
Fremont-Winema National
Forest. Some homes in that
sparsely populated area also
fell under the evacuation alert.
In Eastern Oregon, crews
set intentional blazes to rob
the Rail ire of fuel as it burns
about 10 miles southwest of
Unity. The wildire that has
scorched 37 square miles
produced a large column of
smoke that could be seen from
Baker City and Pendleton.
Fireighters in the coming
days won’t have comfortable
conditions to battle the
lames. The forecast calls for
temperatures near or above
100 in Western Oregon and
it’ll be in the 90s east of
the Cascades. The ire near
Sunriver was relatively small,
less than a square mile, but
its location near the resort
community got attention.
Crews worked through
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin via AP
the night and continued to
focus on the southeast corner,
the direction the ire had
been moving and an area
with homes, said Patrick
Lair, spokesman for Central
Oregon Interagency Dispatch
Center. Crews got a line
around the ire at about 2:30
a.m. Thursday and did back-
burning through the night.
The ire northwest of
Paisley spread to more than
3 square miles. It started
Wednesday afternoon and
grew fast because of gusty
winds, high temperatures and
low humidity.
The town of Paisley, popu-
lation about 250, remains
under a low-level warning,
with people asked to make
preparations in case an evac-
uation becomes necessary.
The situation is a little more
serious for seven homes on
Mill Street, where residents
were warned to be ready to
evacuate.
Three other ires in Lake
County,
which
borders
California and Nevada, were
small and posed no threat.
DRONES: Professional-grade units cost thousands
Continued from 1A
using as an opportunity to ind the soft-
ware they need to compile agricultural
data.
Curt Thompson, the career tech-
nical education coordinator for the
Pendleton School District, said he
plans to incorporate some of the ideas
from Yamhill-Carlton’s program into
Pendleton High School’s UAS classes,
which will start in December when the
Pendleton Tech and Trade center opens.
Although many in the agricultural
industry see drones as a part of the
future of farming, some don’t know
how quickly it will be integrated.
Todd Thorne, a member of the
Pendleton Airport Commission and
a former wheat farmer, said he could
deinitely see drones being used now to
help growers of high-value crops like
potatoes and tree fruits. But the current
cost of investing in a UAS might be too
cost prohibitive for a lower-value crop
like dryland wheat.
While a quadcopter drone can now
be bought for well under $100, the price
tag for many of the professional-grade
drones being demonstrated cost were in
the thousands.
Don Wysocki, a soil scientist with the
Umatilla County Oregon State Univer-
sity Extension Service, concurred with
Thorne. He said he saw drone operators
leasing out UAS services to farmers
rather than growers buying drones of
their own.
The Ag Drone Rodeo wasn’t the irst
series of demonstrations for farmers.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Wes Alexander, light ops lead for INSITU Commercial, makes an
adjustment on a 3DR Solo drone before a demonstration at the Ag Drone
Rodeo on Thursday east of Stanield.
Phil Hamm, the station director
of OSU’s Hermiston Agricultural
Research and Extension Center, said his
organization hosted some UAS demon-
strations at the HAREC ield days a few
years ago.
Hamm said there’s a great deal of
potential for farmers.
For instance, Hamm said UAS can
better pinpoint the spots where pests are
destroying a crop, allowing the farmer
to target that spot rather than blanket a
large area with expensive, unnecessary
pesticide.
With many growers not having
enough time to learn and operate drones
themselves, Hamm also thought leasing
drone services would probably be the
most immediate way UAVs would be
integrated into farming.
While he did note that farmers in the
Columbia Basin are progressive in their
ability to adapt to new technologies,
Hamm said drone companies will have
to appeal to growers’ business sense.
“You have to prove to them that they
can save money,” he said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.
HERMISTON
Two local auto dealer-
ships are teaming up to help
Hermiston sports programs.
Tom Denchel Ford is
bringing the Ford Motor
Company’s Drive 4 UR
School event to Hermiston.
Tom Denchel Ford will
donate $20 for every person
who test drives a Ford
vehicle at Hermiston High
School on Saturday, Aug.
27 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Hermiston boys’
soccer and football program
have the potential to raise
up to $6,000 for each
program.
The soccer program
could receive an additional
$2,000 for eligible test
drives on a 2017 Ford
Escape, meaning the soccer
team could raise up to
$8,000 on Saturday.
Also
on
Saturday,
Oficials on the Umatilla
and
Wallowa-Whitman
national
forests
will
implement Phase B public
use restrictions beginning
Friday to limit the potential
for human-caused ires.
The increased restric-
tions come on the heels
of increased ire danger,
and pertain to campires,
smoking,
chainsaws,
internal
combustion
engines and generators.
“We all enjoy and
appreciate our forests, and
we need to minimize the
chance of an accidental
human-caused ire,” said
Brian Goff, ire staff oficer
on the Umatilla National
Forest. “It’s mid-August,
and there’s still several
weeks of ire season ahead
of us.”
Phase B restrictions
mean
campires
are
allowed only in desig-
nated campgrounds and
recreation sites. Operating
an internal combustion
engine, such as a chainsaw,
is also prohibited.
Generators are allowed,
but only in the center of
an area at least 10 feet in
diameter that has been
cleared of all lammable
material, or fully contained
within the bed of a pickup
truck. Smoking is allowed
only in enclosed vehicles,
buildings, developed recre-
ation sites or when stopped
in areas cleared of burnable
debris.
Driving off-road is
prohibited, except to reach
a campsite that’s located
within 300 feet of an open
road.
“We all need to be aware
of these conditions, be
cautious when recreating in
the forest and think about
ire prevention,” Goff said.
Similar
restrictions,
known as regulated use
closures, will also be tight-
ened on lands protected by
the Oregon Department
of Forestry’s Northeast
Oregon District.
“These restrictions are
put in place to help mini-
mize private landowners’
exposure to human-caused
ires,” said Joe Hessel,
La Grande unit forester.
“While landowners and
the public must abide by
these prevention measures,
landowners can impose
more stringent restrictions
on their own land.”
Burning debris of any
kind, including the use
of burn barrels, will be
prohibited on the ODF land
within the district. Open
ires will also be prohib-
ited except at designated
locations and Oregon State
Parks.
Landowners can only
use chainsaws with a
valid industrial permit,
and cannot cut, grind or
weld metal unless specif-
ically allowed by the state
forester. Mowing of dried
grass with power-driven
equipment is not allowed,
and ATVs are prohibited
except on improved roads
or to harvest agricultural
crops.
The ODF Northeast
Oregon District covers
approximately 2 million
acres across Umatilla,
Union, Baker and Wallowa
counties, as well as small
portions of Morrow, Grant
and Malheur counties. So
far, the district has seen 20
human-caused ires that
have burned nearly 700
acres.
More information on
restrictions and regulations
is available on the Blue
Mountain
Interagency
Dispatch Center’s website,
at www.bmidc.org.
Several large ires
continue to burn in Eastern
Oregon, including:
• Rail Fire — Burning
ive miles west of Unity in
Baker County, the Rail Fire
has grown to 28,209 acres.
It is 20 percent contained,
and spreading south into the
Monument Rock Wilder-
ness on the Wallowa-
Whitman National Forest.
The cause of the ire, which
started July 31, is still
under investigation, though
no lightning was detected
in the area that day. There
are 934 personnel working
to control the blaze, and
crews remained busy
Wednesday extinguishing
a 70-acre spot ire near
Elk Flat. A large column
of smoke could be seen
from miles away, including
Ukiah in Umatilla County.
• Withers Fire — The
human-caused Withers Fire
has exploded to 800 acres
about a mile north Paisley
in Lake County, prompting
a Level 1 evacuation notice
for the small town of 243
people. The ire started
Wednesday on the Bureau
of Land Management
Lakeview District, and is
moving into the Fremont-
Winema National Forest.
Three other ires were also
discovered Wednesday in
the area, but are posing no
threat. All are under inves-
tigation. The ire danger is
extreme in both Lake and
Klamath counties.
BRIEFLY
Dealerships team up to
assist sports programs
By ALEXA LOUGEE
East Oregonian
Forest oficials tighten
public use restrictions
to prevent ires
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
In this Wednesday photo, a group of bikers ride along a path near the Deschutes
River near the Sunriver airport to get a better view of a wildire burning west of
Sunriver, in Bend. Oregon’s wildire season is picking up just as much of the state
endures a stretch of triple-digit heat.
Page 3A
Hermiston Chrysler Dodge
Jeep RAM is will be doing
the Gridiron Challenge,
with the potential to raise
up to $5,000 for the football
program.
Drivers can test a Dodge
RAM truck and Hermiston
Chrysler Dodge will donate
$20 per test drive in support
of the football program.
In order to do a test
drive, a person must be
18 years of age or older
and have a valid driver’s
license. Eligible drivers
can test both a Ford and
Dodge to help both sports
programs.
There is a limit of one
test drive for each program
per household.
The football team will
scrimmage on Aug. 27 from
9-11 a.m. at the Kennison
Field and a soccer game
between Hermiston and
Umatilla will be held at 6
p.m.
Month-old infant
dies in Stanield
A month-old Stanield
infant died Thursday.
Medics from Umatilla
County Fire District 1,
Hermiston, and the Stanield
quick response team
responded to a call at 11:09
a.m. for a unresponsive
infant on the 400 block of
East Ball Avenue.
Fire District 1 battalion
chief Corey Gorham said the
crew worked to resuscitate
the child and called the
emergency department at
Good Shepherd Medical
Center for more direction.
The doctor, though,
Gorham said, told the
irst responders there was
nothing they could do. The
child died at the scene.
“You don’t want to
go out on those calls,”
Gorham said.
He said he did not know
what caused the death,
but the crew did not see
anything suspicious.
Bike pit board
seeks more time
PILOT ROCK — Pilot
Rock is holding onto its
motocross park a while
longer.
City recorder Teri Porter
said the city council Tuesday
night decided to table the
decision to hand over the
Bike Pit after the park’s
board asked for more time.
The board wants to
look into property tax and
insurance issues, she said,
particularly in the wake
of the Oregon Supreme
Court’s ruling in March that
city employees handling
maintenance at public parks
do not have immunity from
negligence lawsuits. The
Bike Pit board asked for
45-60 days so it could get
answers.
“They need time to see
if they can afford to take the
Bike Pit,” Porter said.
The council also tabled
the matter of the city and
Bike Pit board splitting legal
and surveying costs for the
park deed.
Porter said the council,
though, approved the $1,000
Ready to Read Grant for the
Pilot Rock Summer Reading
Program and listened to
her presentation on a park
maintenance program.
———
Briefs are compiled
from staff and wire reports,
and press releases. Email
press releases to news@
eastoregonian.com
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