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East Oregonian
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
New fire erupts in Northern California; homes threatened
By JANIE HAR
and BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press
UPPER LAKE, Calif.
— Firefighters struggling to
contain destructive Northern
California wildfires found
themselves facing a new
blaze that erupted Tuesday
and drove through a rural
area near a national forest.
About 60 homes in an old
ranching and farming area
near Covelo, which is about
180 miles north of San Fran-
cisco, were ordered evac-
uated as the blaze erupted
late in the afternoon. Gusty
winds quickly drove it
through about a square mile
of brush and grasslands,
oak, pine and timber near
Mendocino National Forest,
Mendocino County Under-
sheriff Matthew Kendall
said.
“We’re advised that the
fire was threatening struc-
tures,” he said.
However, there were no
immediate reports of homes
being burned.
Firefighting aircraft were
called in but it was unclear
when they might arrive
because many already were
engaged in other fires, Ken-
dall said.
Some 40 miles to the
south, twin fires straddling
Mendocino and Lake coun-
AP Photo/Noah Berger
A firefighter runs while trying to save a home on Des-
sie Drive as a wildfire tears through Lakeport, Calif.,
Tuesday. The residence eventually burned. Firefighters
pressed their battle against a pair of fires across Men-
docino and Lake counties.
said, adding that she was
“exhausted in every way
possible — physically, emo-
tionally, all of that.”
Derek Hawthorne, a fire-
fighter and spokesman for
the fire crews, said the hot
weather was not ideal but
the wind was on their side
where he was in the city of
Upper Lake.
“It’s blowing into the fire,
and it’s kind of blowing it
back on itself,” he said.
To the east in Sutter
County, a fire that erupted
Tuesday night had torched
about 1.5 square miles of
grassland but no homes were
evacuated, state fire spokes-
man Scott McLean said.
ties have destroyed at least
seven homes and threatened
an estimated 12,000 more,
fire officials said.
Jessyca Lytle fled a
fast-moving Northern Cal-
ifornia wildfire in 2015
that spared her property
but destroyed her mother’s
memorabilia-filled
home
in rural and rugged Lake
County.
Less than three years
later, Lytle found herself
listening to scanner traffic
Tuesday and fire-proofing
her mother’s new home as
another wildfire advanced.
“Honestly, what I’m
thinking right now is I just
want this to end,” Lytle
BPA: Some parts of the substation are 60 years old, need upgrades
Continued from 1A
serve the goods.
The BPA last Thursday
announced it would can-
cel Friday’s planned out-
age, along with outages
scheduled for Aug. 17-18
and 24-25. Tyler, the BPA
spokesperson, said the
agency listened to the pub-
lic and took the concerns
seriously. He recalled Van-
dehey’s phone call and her
emphasis on how the out-
ages would affect the local
population at the height of
summer heat and the local
economy at the peak of tour-
ist season. Fire season also
was a major concern, Tyler
said, and the BPA did not
want to hinder fire and emer-
gency services.
“We thought it prudent
to cancel three of the four
outages,” he said. “But we
have one on the books that
is scheduled for after Labor
Day.”
That would be for Sept.
7-8, but Tyler said BPA in
the next week and a half will
decide whether change that
date, and it plans to shorten
the duration.
But eventually, the out-
ages will have to happen.
The voltage traveling
into Wheeler County fluc-
tuates, he said, and the BPA
needs to install a piece of
hardware that would make
the flow more consistent
and improve the quality of
service. But the remoteness
of communities in the area
means its electrical infra-
structure has no redundan-
cies — no other substation
to re-route power through.
That means there is no way
TOBACCO: One out of five retailers sell to minors
Continued from 1A
mum age was still 18, the
agency’s public health divi-
sion says.
“Selling tobacco to peo-
ple under 21 years old is
illegal, but these data show
that nearly one out of every
five tobacco retailers in
Oregon still sells to people
under the legal age,” said
deputy state health offi-
cer Tom Jeanne in a pre-
pared statement. “Tobacco
remains the number one
preventable cause of death
and disability and kills
nearly 8,000 people in Ore-
gon each year.”
Tobacco use costs the
state $2.5 billion in medical
costs and lost productivity,
state health officials say.
Retailers that sell tobacco
to customers younger than
21 face a fine of up to $500
for the first and second vio-
lations of the law, and a fine
of up to $1,000 for the third
and subsequent violations.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The tobacco industry spends $112 million a year in Or-
egon on in-store advertising and promotions in what
is called a power wall behind the counters in most con-
venience stores.
The public health divi-
sion is now publishing the
names of the retailers who
sell to minors for the first
time, much like the OLCC
publishes the names of
drinking establishments and
cannabis retailers who have
been found to sell products
to people younger than 21
through similar inspections,
called “minor decoy opera-
tions” or “stings.”
In most cases during
the OHA’s inspections,
the underage custom-
ers attempted to buy ciga-
rettes, but some also tried
to purchase e-cigarettes and
cigarillos.
Retailers are required by
state law to post signs stat-
ing that customers younger
than 21 cannot purchase
tobacco, according to OHA.
Those signs are available
for download free of charge
on the agency’s website.
The state health agency
says it began outreach
efforts after the Tobacco 21
bill was signed into law in
August.
OHA says it mailed let-
ters to every known retailer
selling tobacco products and
“inhalant delivery systems”
in the state, placed adver-
tisements in newspapers,
promoted resources for
quitting smoking through
social media and reminded
the public of the impending
law change through press
releases in December.
About 16.2 of Orego-
nians smoked tobacco in
2016, according to the Cen-
ters for Disease Control
and Prevention. That’s a
rate slightly lower than the
national average of 17.5
percent.
COOLING: The station had 11 visitors on Tuesday
Continued from 1A
chatting with two volunteers
in the reception area. His
skin looked flushed. He had
been thrilled to hear about
the cooling station and made
a beeline for the place.
“It was awesome consid-
ering the weather is in triple
digits,” Chase said.
He said he tries to drink
enough fluids, but knows he
doesn’t. On a recent hot day,
Chase said he started feel-
ing “dreadful,” with heart
palpitations and light-head-
edness. He thought it might
be heat stroke. Going inside
stores isn’t really an option
since he doesn’t have much
money and non-paying cus-
tomers can’t stay long.
If not for the cooling sta-
tion opening Tuesday, he
likely would have headed
for the river.
Next to Chase sat Bryan
Miller, who said he learned
of the cooling station by
chance.
“I was walking into
town from where I camp
and saw David out front,”
Miller said. David is David
Williams, treasurer of the
Neighbor 2 Neighbor board.
Miller returned later when
the cooling station opened.
Miller, who sported baggy
orange shorts, camouflage
shirt and a ball cap, said he
would have gone to Stillman
Park to find shade if not for
the cooling station.
There, the men found
air conditioning, water and
Gatorade, and the chance
for a refreshing shower. A
few other men sat in a multi-
purpose room watching tele-
vision. One napped on the
floor.
Johnson said the sleeping
area used during the winter
will stay closed. That would
necessitate more cleaning
and oversight and he doesn’t
want to burn out his stable of
volunteers. The organization
depends on them in the win-
ter. Two are needed to staff
the facility at all times of
operation.
The facility has been
offering showers from
1-3:30 p.m. every other
Wednesday. Each person
signs their name on a list and
receives a token good for six
minutes of showering.
The cooling station had
11 visitors on Tuesday.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
to conduct the work without
cutting the power. Thus peo-
ple downstream are going to
experience an outage.
Tyler also said some
parts of the substation are
60 years old, so the BPA
wants to upgrade those at the
same time at the installation
project.
Now the agency is look-
ing at when it can get the
work done. This project has
been on the books for two
years, he said, and the BPA
has more than 200 projects
in the queue. Putting off one
means shifting pieces, but
there are only so many days
of good weather available
for the work, he said. And no
one wants the power offline
in winter, either.
“We’ll get that work
done, we just don’t know
exactly when,” Tyler said.
BUDGET: Involve
residents in the process
loading or leasing surplus
city property.
While the gas tax was
voted down in an election,
the city implemented the
utility fee and recently sold
the old police station on
Southwest Court Avenue.
Corbett argued that the
city is more sustainable
than it was three to five
years ago, but he is also on
board with the latest effort.
“It’s the right thing to
do,” he said.
Councilor Dale Prim-
mer said he has discussed
the issue with Fairley since
they were both elected to
council in 2016, adding
that Fairley’s presentation
Monday was a good start
to the conversation.
Primmer liked that Fair-
ley had a timeline in his
plan, and he prefers the
city take a closer look at
identifying efficiencies in
the budget before looking
at harder cuts or raising
revenue.
If the council decides to
seek a new tax from Pend-
leton voters, Fairley tar-
geted November 2019 for
the election. Fairley said
he might need to refine
the timeline further, but
he thinks the city can be
put on the path to sustain-
ability within the next few
years.
With two new council-
ors set to take office in Jan-
uary, Fairley said he asked
Corbett to forward his plan
to the councilors-elect.
Continued from 1A
with state gas tax dollars.
Fairley said he under-
stands the difficulty of
these conversations, but if
the city continues to “kick
the can down the road,”
Pendleton could eventually
face having to close parks,
facilities or roads.
In order to put the city
on the path to sustainabil-
ity, Fairley said the city
would either have to cut
services, raise revenue or
find a combination of both.
To figure out exactly
what the public would
be willing to part with or
spend additional money
for, Fairley wants to
involve residents in the
process and create a com-
munications plan on how
best to reach them.
While budget cuts
could be a part of the solu-
tion, Fairley believes the
city can’t cut its way into
prosperity.
“The assumption is,
generally, people don’t
want to pay any more (for
services),” he said. “I don’t
think that’s accurate.”
City Manager Robb
Corbett said he and staff
continue to support coun-
cil efforts to make the bud-
get more sustainable, but
this wouldn’t be the first
attempt at doing it.
Corbett referenced an
infrastructure committee
the council convened that
led to recommendations
for a 5-cent gas tax, a $5
street utility fee, and off-
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