NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Big spring growth could make for bad fire season at Hanford
invasive cheatgrass that forms
a brittle shag carpet across the
landscape. And then there are
drifts of tumbleweeds. The
site’s a bit like an expansive
firestarter. It’s all fine if there
isn’t a spark.
“You have to have luck,”
said Norb Kuhman, chief of
the Hanford Fire Department.
“Anyone in this business real-
izes how fortunate we get at
times, or how unfortunate
we get at other times, based
on prevailing weather condi-
tions — the wind speeds, the
By ANNA KING
Northwest News Network
RICHLAND, Washington
— At the Hanford Nuclear Site
in southeastern Washington,
and across the West, winter’s
deep snow and a cool spring
have produced lots of brush
and grass.
That’s a problem for the
coming fire season.
Hanford and the region sur-
rounding it is a desert. Sage-
brush and bunchgrass stud the
site. But there’s also a lot of
humidity. It all goes into play.”
Kuhman said his crews
have to defend sensitive wild-
lands, historic structures and
radioactive waste sites at Han-
ford. There are about 100 fire-
fighters rolling out on these
lands — with more heavy
equipment operators and
helpers.
And they’re getting ready:
training, digging defendable
dirt lines and burning excess
brush along roadways. Last
year, Hanford firefighters
responded to 11 wildland fires
on the site that burned about
20,000 acres on the 586-square
mile nuclear site.
But across the West in the
lower foothills and in grass-
lands of the Columbia Basin
there is also dramatic grass
and brush growth.
“We are definitely seeing
substantial growth of fine fuels
like grass crops,” said Deb Sch-
weizer with the National Inter-
agency Fire Center in Boise,
Idaho. “They have to dry out
and cure — that’s where we’ll
have our concerns.”
Schweizer said the concern
is fires in that grass and brush
can burn hot and fast — like
kindling for starting a larger
fire. Federal fire managers
expect grasses to begin drying
out soon with higher expected
temperatures in the region.
In central Washington,
late spring rains have sprung
up a second crop of grass and
shrubs adding even more to
the fuel loads, according to Liz
Smith, district manager for the
state Department of Natural
Resources in Ellensburg.
“Grasses here will grow a
lot taller and grow thicker in
density,” Smith said. “Those
fuels will grow quickly, and
they will die off quickly. That
is concerning.”
Smith says in the area
north of Ellensburg, there have
already been a few roadside
fire starts, burning 30 to 40
acres before they’re caught by
firefighters.
“That’s a little big [num-
ber] for this time of year,” she
said. “And to have that many is
worrying.”
Brown plans to announce Friday as
gun violence awareness day
“The significant invest-
ments that we are making
through the Student Success
Act in behavioral health, in
counselors, in ensuring that
our students have access to
the mental health support
and services that they need
… will hopefully reduce any
opportunities for violence in
our schools across the state,”
Brown said.
The governor said she
anticipates introducing fire-
arms safety legislation in
future sessions and encour-
aged students to stay engaged.
appointed that the governor
sacrificed her promised gun
legislation earlier this month
to end a Republican walkout
and pass a large school fund-
ing bill.
“We definitely are hopeful
that we will continue to work
with legislators to get some
positive gun violence preven-
tion passed,” Uhlig said.
For her part, Brown said
this year’s legislative bargain-
ing is part of a long fight and
that revenue from the school
funding bill will contribute to
safer schools.
By JONATHAN LEVINSON
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown will sign a proc-
lamation June 7, declaring it
gun violence awareness day.
She will be joined by leg-
islators and members of the
Oregon chapter of Moms
Demand Action, a national
gun safety organization that
campaigned for Brown in the
2018 election.
Hilary Uhlig, the legis-
lative lead for the Oregon
chapter, said they were dis-
OPB Photo/Conrad Wilson, File
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announces a plan to address gun violence in the state
in this July 15, 2016, file photo.
BRIEFLY
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Mostly sunny and
pleasant
Beautiful with
clouds and sun
An afternoon
shower or t-storm
Some sun, a
shower in the p.m.
Mostly cloudy, a
shower possible
81° 51°
81° 52°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
62° 44°
67° 44°
63° 46°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
86° 55°
85° 56°
71° 48°
74° 47°
70° 49°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
63/49
73/48
83/50
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
81/57
Lewiston
72/49
86/53
Astoria
62/51
Pullman
Yakima 84/51
72/46
83/53
Portland
Hermiston
76/54
Salem
The Dalles 86/55
80/54
Corvallis
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
77/46
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Bend
76/47
79/46
80/52
Ontario
90/54
Caldwell
Burns
85°
65°
76°
51°
99° (2007) 34° (1929)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
Eugene
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
87/54
0.00"
0.00"
0.09"
4.42"
4.96"
5.20"
WINDS (in mph)
86/54
81/44
0.00"
0.00"
0.19"
9.28"
6.07"
6.70"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
81/51
75/46
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
Pendleton 75/43
75/49
75/49
80°
59°
75°
50°
98° (2007) 34° (1918)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
72/47
Aberdeen
76/51
80/55
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
71/52
Today
Wed.
WSW 7-14
W 7-14
WSW 7-14
WNW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
81/42
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:08 a.m.
8:39 p.m.
6:23 a.m.
10:14 p.m.
First
Full
Last
New
June 9
June 17
June 25
July 2
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 101° in Zapata, Texas Low 23° in Doe Lake, Mich.
Boot camp aims
to bring more
women to wildland
firefighting
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A
special boot camp in East-
ern Oregon aims to bring
more women into wildland
firefighting careers.
Boise State Public Radio
reports Cassandra Flecken-
stein with the Vale District
for the Bureau of Land Man-
agement sought out the grant
funding to start the wildland
fire boot camp, which is now
in its second year.
Fleckenstein has been in
the field since 2006, starting
as a wildland fire dispatcher
right out of high school.
She says last year the
boot camp drew applications
from women as far away as
Great Britain and Hawaii.
Twenty women participated
in in 2018, and half of them
have gone on to receive jobs
in the industry for the 2019
fire season.
The BLM’s Vale District
is now taking applications
for this year’s 3-day boot
camp, which will be held in
October.
Texas man
sentenced to 9 years
for role in pill mill
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
PORTLAND (AP) — A
Texas man who helped run
an illegal pill mill in Port-
land recruiting customers
from Narcotics Anonymous
meetings and others from a
homeless shelter, has been
sentenced to nine years in
federal prison.
The
Oregonian/Ore-
gonLive reports 56-year-
old Osasuyi Idumwonyi
pleaded guilty to conspir-
acy to distribute or dispense
Oxycodone and was sen-
tenced Monday.
Idumwonyi and nurse
practitioner Julie DeMille
opened the Fusion Wellness
Clinic in January 2015. Both
were arrested in July 2016.
Prosecutors say the
clinic had no business bank
account and didn’t report
wages to authorities.
Prosecutors say Idumwo-
nyi commuted from Hous-
ton to assist DeMille in run-
ning the Portland clinic.
DeMille was sentenced
in March to four years in
prison.
Idumwonyi said in court
he could have used “better
judgment,” saying he was
led astray by a desire to help
a former girlfriend who was
addicted.
3 killed in suspected
drunken driving
crash in Salem
SALEM (AP) — Police
say three teenagers were
killed in Salem when their
car was hit by an intoxi-
cated motorist who sped
through a red light.
The
Salem
Police
Department says officers
and fire crews responded
to the collision at about
11:30 p.m. Sunday.
Police say initial inves-
tigation shows a man driv-
ing a Jeep ran the red light
and collided with a car car-
rying three teens.
Police say 19-year-old
Trinity Watt of Salem,
19-year-old
Madison
Capobianco of Salem,
and 18-year-old Makayla
Tryon of Keizer, were pro-
nounced dead at the scene.
Police say Juan C.
Rodriguez
Palacios
remained at the scene with
his passenger and both
were taken to a hospital.
Police say Rodriguez Pala-
cios’ blood alcohol content
was three times the legal
limit when tested.
He was arrested on
manslaughter and other
charges.
It wasn’t immediately
known if he has a lawyer.
OSU approves
new $1.3 billion
budget
SALEM (AP) — Oregon
State University’s Board
of Trustees has approved
a budget of more than $1.3
billion for the next fiscal
year, beginning in July.
Oregon Public Broad-
casting reports the board,
which approved the bud-
get Friday, is asking uni-
versity leaders to prioritize
funding toward recruit-
ing and retaining students
and faculty and promoting
diversity and inclusivity.
Other key priorities include
advancing construction on
the OSU-Cascades campus
in Bend.
How the university will
balance its budget remains
unclear, while facing flat-
tening student enrollment
and a potential lack of addi-
tional funding from the
state.
Gov. Kate Brown’s pro-
posed 2019-21 budget noted
no additional funding for
the state’s Public University
Support Fund.
OSU budget planners
have projected a budget
gap of about $18 million
at the Corvallis campus,
despite an upcoming tui-
tion increase of more than
4% for resident undergradu-
ate students at both the uni-
versity’s Corvallis and Bend
campuses.
This gap is an increase
over the $12.7 million bud-
get gap discussed during
last month’s OSU board
meeting. Budget planners
gave two reasons for that
increase. First, the univer-
sity’s insurance rates are
increasing in the new fiscal
year by an estimated $3 mil-
lion, mostly driven by prop-
erty insurance. “This is over
a 250% increase,” the oper-
ating budget report states.
Second, fewer non-resident
undergraduate
students
enrolled than projected.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
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