NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Task force returns from Eagle Creek fire
Local firefighters
help protect homes
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
After nine grueling days
working to protect homes
from the massive Eagle
Creek fire in the Columbia
River Gorge west of Hood
River, local firefighters
returned home Tuesday
afternoon, exhausted but
unscathed.
The blaze, which has
grown to nearly 35,600
acres, started Saturday, Sept.
2 and is now 11 percent
contained. It is one of 113
large wildfires burning in
Oregon and Washington,
totaling more than 1 million
acres.
With so many fires
straining resources around
the region, the Oregon
State Fire Marshal has
called upon county crews
to help fight the flames and
keep communities safe. On
Monday, Sept. 4, a task force
from Umatilla, Morrow
and Union counties was
deployed to Cascade Locks,
where the Eagle Creek fire
was creeping uncomfortably
close to town.
No sooner did they arrive
than the inferno made its
first big run, fanned by
strong winds that pushed the
fire 14 miles west to Corbett
in a matter of hours. Casey
Zellars, lieutenant with
— Casey Zellars,
lieutenant with the Boardman
Rural Fire Protection District
Genna Martin/seattlepi.com via AP
Fire crews work to protect Multnomah Falls and the Multnomah Falls Lodge, which
was built in 1925, from the Eagle Creek Fire, Sept 6, near Troutdale. The lodge sur-
vived the worst of the fire, but hot spots continue to burn and trees continue to fall
from the hills nearby.
the Boardman Rural Fire
Protection District and task
force leader, said the scene
early on was utter chaos.
“Everything
was
progressing really fast,”
Zellars said. “We were a
little sleep deprived.”
As task force leader, it
was Zellars’ job to oversee
a team of 16 personnel, four
fire engines and one water
tender, while also reporting
to incident commanders
to make sure tactical
objectives were being met.
Resources were pulled
together from Boardman
as well as Umatilla County
Fire District in Hermiston,
Umatilla Rural Fire Protec-
tion District and La Grande
Rural Fire District.
Their job, Zellars said,
was structure protection
— specifically, helping resi-
dents to create a buffer space
around their homes in case
the fire approached.
“We did a lot of assessing
homes to see if we could
make them more defen-
sible,” he said.
Zellars estimates the
task force assisted in safe-
guarding 250 homes from
Corbett to west of Hood
River, doing things like
cleaning gutters, trimming
trees, removing propane
tanks from near houses and
setting sprinklers.
“We just have to think
outside the box a little bit
about what our game plan is
going to be, because things
can change in an instant,”
Zellars said.
Jesse Brown, a firefighter
and medic with Umatilla
County Fire District, said
the team was put to the
challenge right off the
bat. At about 1:30 a.m. on
Tuesday, Sept. 5, they were
roused from their sleep and
alerted that the blaze was on
the move, forcing them to
scramble to get ahead of the
situation.
The Eagle Creek fire has
destroyed four houses in
the Gorge as of Saturday,
according
to
reports.
Witnesses say the fire was
started by a group of teen-
agers lighting and tossing
fireworks into Eagle Creek
Canyon, though no charges
have been filed and the offi-
cial cause of the fire is listed
as “unknown.”
Brown said the task force
had to work quickly to orient
themselves with the land-
scape and fuel types, which
differ widely from Eastern
Oregon.
“Not knowing the area
and not knowing what
we were heading into, we
weren’t sure what we could
expect,” Brown said. “We
For $500, state gives voter list to fraud commission
SALEM (AP) — Oregon
officials have handed over
a statewide list of voters to
President Donald Trump’s
commission
investigating
allegations of voter fraud, for
a $500 fee.
Made
available
were
names, addresses, registration
dates and status, birth year,
precinct name and political
party affiliation. But infor-
mation that was not disclosed
included Social Security and
driver’s license numbers or
how a person voted.
Oregon Secretary of State
Dennis Richardson’s office
said in a statement Friday
that Oregon law requires
disclosure of the list to anyone
paying the $500, as long as it’s
not for commercial purposes.
Oregon policy also prohibits
disclosure of the information
that was withheld, the office
noted.
Richardson has already told
commission vice chairman
and Kansas Secretary of State
Kris Kobach that there is
“very little evidence” of voter
fraud or registration fraud in
Oregon.
Kobach and the commis-
sion on Tuesday visited New
Hampshire, where he said he’s
no longer certain that fraudu-
lent out-of-state voters led to
a Democrat’s victory in a U.S.
Senate race in New Hamp-
shire. Kobach acknowledged
PENDLETON
Suspects from car crash face charges
that New Hampshire allows
college students and others
to vote in the state without
getting driver’s licenses if they
consider the state their home.
Two members of Oregon’s
congressional delegation and
Gov. Kate Brown had urged
Richardson, a Republican in
Democratic-leaning Oregon,
to refuse the request that went
to secretaries of state around
the country earlier this year.
Trump, who lost the
popular vote in the 2016
presidential election, created
the commission through an
executive order in May. He
has said voter fraud existed
in the election that he won by
Electoral College votes.
PENDLETON — The two men
Pendleton police arrested Monday
evening after their car crashed on railroad
tracks faced charges Tuesday.
Joseph Higheagle Jr., and Delbert
Edwin Ferraris, both 30 and Pendleton
residents, had arraignments Tuesday
in Umatilla County Circuit Court,
Pendleton. Court records show they
appeared in court via video from the
county jail.
Higheagle faces charges of first- and
second-degree criminal trespassing for
being on Union Pacific Railroad Co.
property and trying to hide from police
on private property at 515 S.E. Fourth St.
Ferraris also appeared in jail via video
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211
333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Local home delivery Savings off cover price
EZPay
$14.50
41 percent
52 weeks
$173.67
41 percent
26 weeks
$91.86
38 percent
13 weeks
$47.77
36 percent
*EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge
www.eastoregonian.com
To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255
or go online to www.eastoregonian.com
and click on ‘Subscribe’
East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday
and Dec. 25, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Classified & Legal Advertising
1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678
classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com
ADVERTISING
Advertising Director: Marissa Williams
541-278-2669 • addirector@eastoregonian.com
Advertising Services: Laura Jensen
541-966-0806 • ljensen@eastoregonian.com
Multimedia Consultants:
• Kimberly Macias
541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com
• Jeanne Jewett
541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com
• Dayle Stinson
541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com
• Angela Treadwell
541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com
• Audra Workman
541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com
Didn’t receive your paper? Call 1-800-522-0255
before noon Tuesday through Friday
or before 10 a.m. Saturday
for same-day redelivery
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
Single copy price:
$1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday
NEWS
• To submit news tips and press releases: • call 541-966-0818 •
fax 541-276-8314 • email news@eastoregonian.com
• To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News:
email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at
541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818.
• To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries:
email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian.
com/community/announcements
• To submit a Letter to the Editor: mail to Managing Editor Daniel
Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email
editor@eastoregonian.com.
• To submit sports or outdoors information or tips:
541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com
Copyright © 2017, EO Media Group
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
THURSDAY
Cooler with
periods of sun
Partly sunny
76° 49°
70° 46°
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Partly sunny
Pleasant with
some sun
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
69° 43°
71° 48°
76° 51°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
74° 47°
78° 46°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
92°
79°
95° (1892)
53°
51°
25° (1921)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
Trace
0.18"
11.37"
7.69"
8.56"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
92°
80°
96° (1953)
48°
49°
31° (2014)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.00"
0.14"
6.65"
5.40"
6.26"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
New
First
Sep 19
Sep 27
Full
Oct 5
74° 44°
75° 50°
Seattle
69/52
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
73° 42°
6:31 a.m.
7:10 p.m.
none
2:44 p.m.
Last
Oct 12
Today
SUNDAY
Beautiful with
clouds and sun
Spokane
Wenatchee
73/47
75/51
Tacoma
Moses
70/44
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 76/51
71/43
67/48
71/43
79/47
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
70/47
76/54 Lewiston
78/47
Astoria
77/51
67/48
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
72/53
Pendleton 77/41
The Dalles 78/46
76/49
76/51
La Grande
Salem
76/43
74/49
Albany
Corvallis 75/47
76/46
John Day
81/47
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
89/55
74/46
77/41
Caldwell
Burns
87/54
84/41
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
67
81
77
69
84
77
74
75
78
81
83
76
73
83
63
65
89
79
76
72
80
74
73
75
72
76
79
Lo
48
43
41
53
41
41
46
48
46
47
43
43
39
50
47
50
55
47
49
53
38
49
47
39
49
54
47
W
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Thu.
Hi
71
65
64
68
62
60
72
68
74
65
68
64
63
74
64
65
70
74
70
75
67
75
67
60
74
70
75
Lo
46
35
38
52
30
39
44
45
47
41
36
38
37
45
47
47
49
45
46
51
34
47
46
37
47
49
44
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
pc
sh
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
pc
pc
pc
WORLD CITIES
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Hi
86
93
91
63
74
74
65
78
78
89
84
Lo
65
82
69
47
55
53
51
61
57
52
71
W
pc
t
s
pc
pc
t
r
s
s
s
pc
Thu.
Hi
86
91
86
62
70
61
61
77
81
64
82
Lo
64
79
69
46
53
56
48
65
61
52
67
W
pc
pc
s
sh
pc
sh
sh
pc
s
s
pc
WINDS
Medford
83/50
(in mph)
Klamath Falls
83/43
Boardman
Pendleton
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Times of clouds and sun
today. Partly cloudy tonight.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Clouds and
sun today; cooler across the north and near
the Cascades.
Western Washington: Clouds and sunshine
today. Partly cloudy tonight. Times of clouds
and sun tomorrow.
Eastern Washington: Times of clouds and
sun today; smoky in the north and toward
the Cascades.
Cascades: Not as warm today with times of
clouds and sun. Partly cloudy tonight.
Northern California: Clouds and sun today;
a thunderstorm in spots in the interior
mountains.
Today
Thursday
WSW 6-12
W 7-14
NNE 6-12
WNW 6-12
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
1
and faces the following charges: felony
and misdemeanor attempting to elude a
police officer; driving under the influence
of intoxicants (alcohol); recklessly
endangering another person; reckless
driving; and driving while suspended or
revoked.
Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts
reported the two were in a car that fled
an officer, then crashed moments later
on railroad tracks near Southeast Fourth
Street. The pair remain in the Pendleton
jail, although the court approved a
conditional release for Higheagle and set
bail for Ferraris at $40,000.
Editor’s note: The story on the crash
and arrest that appeared in Tuesday’s
paper misspelled Ferraris’ last name.
The East Oregonian regrets the error.
East Oregonian
Subscriber services:
For home delivery, vacation stops or delivery concerns: 1-800-522-0255
TODAY
were playing catchup the
first day and a half, trying to
get ahead of the fire. Then it
was kind of playing on our
terms.”
By removing woody
debris and fire fuels from
around homes in the area,
Brown said it gave them the
best chance to weather the
potential firestorm. Working
together with task forces
from Clackamas, Polk and
Marion counties, the local
crews were able to assess
the entire area west of Hood
River.
In return, Zellars said
the community of Corbett
banded together to make
sure the firefighters were
well fed and taken care of.
“They fed us breakfast
and dinner every night,”
Zellars said. “Just the
support out of the Corbett
community, I’ve never seen
anything like that. It was just
overwhelming.”
The task force was
released Tuesday morning,
and are set to return to
work at their home stations.
Zellars said they are tired,
but otherwise safe and
sound.
“Nine days of sleeping
on the ground is enough,”
he said with a laugh. “But
we’re in good spirits. Our
whole task force works well
together.”
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
“Everything
was progress-
ing really fast.
We were a little
sleep deprived.”
3
4
4
2
1
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: Spotty rain from Irma will extend from the Mississippi Valley to the
mid-Atlantic today. Steamy air will settle over the Southeast. Spotty storms will extend from
Northern California to the Intermountain West.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 110° in Needles, Calif.
Low 32° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Hi
91
75
77
79
81
70
87
81
86
79
73
80
92
90
75
98
62
93
86
91
67
87
85
98
79
78
Lo
64
62
69
64
51
61
57
66
70
59
58
61
68
59
60
74
44
63
71
71
58
70
62
71
61
63
W
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
c
s
pc
sh
s
c
pc
pc
pc
r
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
Thur.
Hi
86
80
79
79
58
82
73
82
86
70
79
73
96
86
75
96
62
81
87
92
75
87
87
89
87
74
Lo
60
65
67
61
42
65
48
65
68
57
61
59
74
55
59
71
42
58
75
71
58
72
65
68
66
64
W
pc
s
t
t
r
s
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
sh
s
pc
pc
s
c
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
s
pc
s
pc
Today
Hi
Louisville
65
Memphis
73
Miami
90
Milwaukee
75
Minneapolis
88
Nashville
64
New Orleans
86
New York City
79
Oklahoma City
87
Omaha
90
Philadelphia
78
Phoenix
107
Portland, ME
80
Providence
84
Raleigh
83
Rapid City
93
Reno
85
Sacramento
82
St. Louis
74
Salt Lake City
88
San Diego
76
San Francisco
75
Seattle
69
Tucson
101
Washington, DC 82
Wichita
91
Lo
60
65
79
57
67
60
68
68
60
66
68
82
57
65
66
58
56
60
60
66
67
61
52
75
69
63
W
r
r
pc
pc
s
r
s
pc
s
s
sh
s
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
s
Thur.
Hi
77
85
90
75
89
79
87
78
92
90
81
99
80
83
83
81
80
79
86
80
75
72
72
97
80
94
Lo
61
68
78
61
66
62
72
66
70
68
65
74
59
64
63
54
50
55
64
56
66
59
51
71
65
68
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
pc
s
t
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
s
t
s
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
s
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
sh
t
s