NATION/WORLD
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 9A
INMATES: Police warned anyone
who identifies them to not approach
Continued from 1A
Office, conducted an exten-
sive search, inspecting an
area of between 15 and 20
square miles. But they found
no trace of McAuliffe or
West.
Union County sheriff’s
deputy Cody Bowen on
Wednesday drove a four-
wheel drive ATV 85 miles
on west Union County roads
and trails while assisting in
the search. He said dense
trees and vegetation in the
forest would make it easy for
the escapees to hide.
“It is so thick that I
wouldn’t see them if I drove
by and they were lying in the
grass,” Bowen said.
At least half a dozen state
police troopers were in the
Meacham area looking for
McAuliffe and West after
Hove said there was a cred-
ible sighting there Friday at
3 a.m. State police consider
McAuliffe and West of
interest in a break-in at the
Meacham General Store.
Store owner Dixie Earle
reported someone broke in
Friday morning and stole
bags of chips, $15 cash,
money from a tip jar, and
possibly cigarettes.
The pair also are suspects
in the theft of an Oregon
McAuliffe
West
State Parks’ white Ford
F250 pickup Saturday from
Emigrant Springs State Park.
The pickup displays the
department’s emblem on the
doors, and the original plates
were E273867.
State police reported
someone spotted McAuliffe
Saturday at a pharmacy in
Milton-Freewater.
McAuliffe, of Klamath
Falls, was originally sent
to Riverbend on charges
of second-degree escape,
resisting
arrest
and
second-degree
criminal
mischief, according to the
Oregon Youth Authority.
West, of Salem, was at River-
bend on charges of minor
in possession and unlawful
possession of marijuana.
McAuliffe is 5-foot-10-
inches, 220 pounds with
a stocky build and tattoos
on both forearms, one
displaying “Native Pride.”
His hair is short
on the sides and 6
inches long on the
top with a ponytail.
He wears glasses
and was wearing
a white tank top,
black shorts with
a red stripe on the
sides, and black and
red mid-top shoes,
according to OSP.
West is 5-foot-11, 155
pounds and has multiple
tattoos, including a derringer
pistol on one arm, an eagle
tattoo on his chest, and
a cross tattoo on his left
forearm. West is bald and
was wearing a dark blue
hoodie and blue jeans.
State police warned
anyone who identifies them
to not approach, use caution
and immediately contact law
enforcement.
State police asked anyone
with information regarding
the location of McAuliffe
and or West to call the
OSP Southern Command
Center at 541-664-4600 or
9-1-1, and refer to OSP case
number SP17211022.
The Union County Sher-
iff’s Office and the Oregon
Youth Authority are assisting
state police with this case.
———
The East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Firefighters in an aerial bucket spray water into a burning house on Northwest
13th Street on Monday in Hermiston.
FIRE: Families got out of duplex safely
Continued from 1A
high temperatures, and there
were no injuries reported.
Early indications are that
the cause of the blaze was
fireworks.
Chris Wrathall, a fire-
fighter and paramedic with
UCFD 1, said a common
theme with fires this year
is the tall grass, which has
grown rapidly due to the wet
winter, and is now causing
more fires.
“We were seeing four to
eight-foot flames,” he said.
“Then the wind picked up
and blew it into the duplex. It
turned into a bigger incident
than we initially thought.”
Juan Lopez, who lived
in one of the units with his
girlfriend, said he was inside
and his girlfriend was asleep
on the couch when the fire
started.
“I was still up, thank
goodness,” he said. “I looked
out and thought the sky was
turning orange. I saw the fire,
and rushed to get her out.”
The two left in separate
cars, and couldn’t find each
other until a while later when
Lopez used a phone at a
nearby gas station to call her.
His girlfriend is several
months pregnant and went to
her mother’s house. Both she
and Lopez were unharmed
by the fire.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Firefighters put out a fire on the roof of a house at
NW 13th Street and Hartley Ave. in Hermiston.
“With the Fourth of July coming up,
we’d hate to see anybody else lose
their home as a result of fireworks.”
— Chris Wrathall, firefighter, paramedic with UCFD 1
“She’s worried about her
guinea pig,” Lopez said with
a laugh. “It’s unfortunate,
but our families and other
families got out safely.
That’s the main thing.”
Heleo Sanchez, the
landlord of the duplex, said
he thought part of the issue
might have been that the
grass in the field was too
high. The property around
the Oxbow Trail is managed
by the Bureau of Reclama-
tion.
Sanchez said the building
was a total loss.
Several other agencies,
including Hermiston Police,
a hazmat team and Morrow
County Health District were
on hand, as well.
Wrathall urged people
to be careful when using
fireworks.
“With the Fourth of July
coming up, we’d hate to see
anybody else lose their home
as a result of fireworks,” he
said. “We want people to use
extreme caution.”
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Incident commander in training Lane McDonald from the North Fork John Day
Ranger District demonstrates how to dig a fire line with a Polaski to his crew at the
Northeast Oregon Fire School on Friday east of Meacham.
TRAINEES: ‘Just because it’s been a wet spring
doesn’t mean there won’t be a fire season’
Continued from 1A
member of the VetsWork
GreenCorps program through
the Mt. Adams Institute based
in Washington. The program
takes military veterans and
enrolls them in 12-week
internships for careers in fire-
fighting and natural resource
management.
Nineteen
veterans,
including Boling, are stationed
in Ukiah on the North Fork
John Day Ranger District
of the Umatilla National
Forest. Boling, who had been
working for nine months at a
military apparel company in
Chicago, said he jumped at the
opportunity to join VetsWork.
“I kind of dropped every-
thing and moved to Oregon
back in January,” Boling said.
Boling served four and a
half years in the U.S. Marine
Corps after graduating from
Miami University in Oxford,
Ohio, where he joined
ROTC. Stationed in San
Diego, Boling was a second
lieutenant before working
his way up to captain. As a
22-year-old out of college,
he was responsible for 30-40
Marines in his unit.
“It’s a really daunting
task,” Boling said. “Whether
you like it or not, their failures
and accomplishments are kind
of your responsibility.”
The parallels between fire-
fighting and military service
are obvious, Boling said
— teamwork, accountability,
physical and mental stress
and the chain of command.
Veterans learn these things in
boot camp, so the structure
of firefighting is already well
ingrained.
“I wouldn’t say we like
the stress and chaos of it all,
but we definitely thrive in it,”
Boling said.
Mitch Williams, with ODF
in La Grande, is the other
coordinator for fire school.
He said the program has been
running continuously since at
least the early ’80s.
“It starts us off on the
right foot of working together
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Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fire crews gather on a road during a training exercise
at the at the Northeast Oregon Fire School on Friday
east of Meacham.
cooperatively,” Williams said.
When a fire breaks out in
northeast Oregon, Williams
said all jurisdictional bound-
aries go out the window and
whatever agency has the
closest forces will respond to
the scene.
Angela Heay, 21, partic-
ipated in fire school after
she was hired this year as a
forestry intern by the Bureau
of Indian Affairs. A member of
the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation,
Heay said firefighting runs in
the family.
“My dad’s a firefighter.
He’s always sending me infor-
mation on trainings and trying
to get me to go,” she said.
Heay is currently in her
second year at Blue Mountain
Community College, and
plans to transfer to Oregon
State University to pursue a
degree in forestry. She said
fire school emphasized the
importance of safety working
in the woods.
Despite
high
winter
snowpack and plentiful spring
rains, fire managers say fuels
are already ripening for fire
season, with lighter grasses
at low elevations already
starting to dry out. McCraw,
with the Forest Service, said
seasonal firefighters need to
be prepared.
“Just because it’s been
a wet spring doesn’t mean
there won’t be a fire season,”
McCraw said.
Boling said he won’t know
if he’s ready to take on his first
major wildfire until he gets the
call.
“It’s like asking if you’re
ready to be in a firefight,” he
said. “You don’t really know
until you get there.”
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
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