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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Thursday, August 15, 2019 Fire suppression strategies evolving Fire officials giving a lightning- sparked fire in Wallowa-Whitman National Forest an incendiary assist By JAYSON JACOBY EO Media Group BAKER CITY — Fire officials from the Wal- lowa-Whitman National For- est have pulled a new tool from their belts in their cam- paign to construct a wider strategy that allows flames to play their historic, and some- times beneficial, role on pub- lic lands. For the first time on the Wallowa-Whitman, offi- cials are giving a light- ning-sparked fire an incendi- ary assist. But there’s a major dif- ference between that fire, called Hollow Log, burn- ing in the Alder Spring area about 24 miles northeast of Joseph, and the Granite Gulch Fire that’s been burn- ing in the Eagle Cap Wilder- ness since mid July, accord- ing to Nathan Goodrich, fire management officer for the northern part of the Wallowa-Whitman. The Hollow Log Fire, ignited by lightning during last weekend’s storm spree that pummeled the region Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Photo The Granite Gulch Fire, photographed from an airplane on Tuesday, continues to advance slowly in the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area north of the Minam River. is the case with fires in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. The tactic with the Hollow Log Fire is called “appropri- ate suppression response,” Goodrich said. with several thousand bolts, is not in a wilderness area. That means Wal- lowa-Whitman officials can’t monitor the fire and in effect let it spread naturally, as Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY Mostly sunny Mostly cloudy Mostly sunny and comfortable Nice with brilliant sunshine Mostly sunny and beautiful 87° 58° 84° 56° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 85° 54° 88° 55° 88° 56° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 91° 60° 87° 59° 88° 60° 90° 60° OREGON FORECAST through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW Aberdeen Olympia 70/59 81/54 89/55 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 88/63 Lewiston 78/57 92/61 Astoria 71/59 Pullman Yakima 91/58 79/54 88/61 Portland Hermiston 81/58 The Dalles 91/60 Salem Corvallis 85/51 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 83/52 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 87/51 84/47 84/52 Ontario 93/60 Caldwell Burns 93° 55° 88° 58° 105° (1992) 44° (1931) 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 85/51 0.00" 0.05" 0.09" 4.61" 5.10" 6.01" WINDS (in mph) 91/58 86/45 0.00" 0.10" 0.18" 9.71" 6.49" 8.13" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 79/47 84/53 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 87/58 86/61 90° 56° 88° 58° 107° (1933) 40° (1910) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 81/54 Yesterday Normals Records 83/57 88/62 Tacoma By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press PENDLETON Spokane Wenatchee 81/60 Oregon FDA inspections require up to two days per fresh produce grower 91° 53° TEMP. Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 91/58 Fri. WSW 6-12 W 7-14 SW 7-14 W 7-14 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 85/48 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 5:55 a.m. 8:04 p.m. 8:34 p.m. 5:51 a.m. Full Last New First Aug 15 Aug 23 Aug 30 Sep 5 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 116° in Thermal, Calif. Low 29° in Stanley, Idaho NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY days, with warmer, dry weather forecast. As Hayes put it, Hollow Log is a 92-acre fire that, as of Tuesday afternoon, had burned just one-tenth of an acre. Goodrich said he’s excited about the opportunity to use a lightning fire in a new way. “We’re embarking on what I hope is a bright future for doing this,” he said. The Hollow Log Fire is burning in an area that his- torically was dominated by mature, widely spaced pon- derosa pine trees, Hayes said. But during the past cen- tury so, as the Forest Ser- vice has largely suppressed fire, Douglas-fir and grand fir trees have encroached on the ponderosa stand. The fir trees are much more vulnerable to fire than the pines, he said. The goal with the Hol- low Log Fire is basically the same as when the Forest Ser- vice purposely lights pre- scribed fires in the spring or fall — to reduce the amount of fuel on the ground, includ- ing encroaching young fir trees. This reintroduction of fire can start the process of returning a forest to its nat- ural condition, as well as lower the risk of a fire that could spread from the firs into the crowns of the pon- derosa pines. On-farm FDA inspections prove time-consuming in Oregon ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. Seattle The basic concept, and one the Wallowa-Whitman is using for the first time with the Hollow Log Fire, is to let a lightning fire grow, and indeed to help it do so by igniting vegetation as in a prescribed fire. But that growth, in con- trast to a wilderness fire such as Granite Gulch, has a pre- determined, and well-de- fined, limit, Goodrich said. After the Hollow Log Fire was reported Sunday afternoon, forest officials discussed whether to try to extinguish the blaze as soon as possible — the Forest Ser- vice’s strategy in the vast majority of fires that start outside the Eagle Cap Wil- derness — or whether the fire, which had burned about one-tenth of an acre, was a candidate for the untried appropriate suppression response. Goodrich said they decided the fire was well- suited for that strategy. Over the next two days fire crews, taking advantage of the roads that surround the fire, set up containment lines around a 92-acre area. Earlier this week, crews planned to ignite spots near the fire, which was stifled but not doused by rain during the weekend, and encourage it to spread. The goal, said Andy Hayes, an incident command trainee for the Forest Ser- vice, is to have the Hollow Log Fire eventually cover the entire 92 acres. He said that’s likely to happen over three to four SALEM — Federal reg- ulators appear to be taking longer to complete on-farm inspections in Oregon under the Food Safety Moderniza- tion Act than state inspectors elsewhere in the U.S. Inspections conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Oregon require up to two days per fresh produce grower, while the time is typically shorter where that duty is delegated to state inspectors, said Susanna Pearlstein, produce safety pro- gram manager for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The time needed for inspections could be a signif- icant impact for growers who must devote staff to the pro- cess who would otherwise be driving tractors or performing other duties, she said. While Congress over- hauled the nation’s food safety system with the pas- sage of FSMA in 2011, rou- tine inspections of farms didn’t begin until this year. Federal authorities spent several years enacting rules for the program. The task of conducting on-farm inspections was del- egated to state regulators in many cases, but the Ore- gon Department of Agricul- ture is focusing on outreach and education while leaving FSMA inspections to FDA employees. “It’s big and it’s compli- cated and it’s new,” said Pearl- stein. “We’re here if people have questions.” An FDA inspector in Ore- gon referred questions to a representative at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., who did not respond to calls for comment. During this first year of routine inspections, the FDA is targeting growers with more than $500,000 in annual sales of fresh produce, but next year the agency plans to inspect operations with revenues of $250,000 to $500,000. From the observations of ODA staff, there seems to be an opportunity to pro- vide growers with more information on such subjects as cross-contamination of equipment, Pearlstein said. “We’re seeing a lot of empha- sis on educational materials that are essentially needed for operations.” The ODA has a program to help farmers prepare for FDA inspections with on-farm readiness reviews. The agency has conducted about 50 this year, she said. The agency plans to update its materials based on its observations of the FDA pro- cess, Pearlstein said. “We’re all learning together.” The FDA’s inspection was “intensive,” “time consum- ing” and “disruptive,” though the agency does seem open to making practical adjustments, said a farmer whose operation was inspected this year and didn’t want to be named. “The tone is, ‘Let’s try to work things out,’ rather than the ‘put the screws to you’ tone,” the farmer said. Some of the inspector’s expectations, such as bundles of produce immediately being placed in boxes instead of first laying in windrows, are unre- alistic, the farmer said. With Oregon produce farmers competing with those in Mexico who pay much lower wages, they must take labor-saving steps. “We have to be very effi- cient in how we do things,” the farmer said. BRIEFLY Portland mayor decries violence, hatred ahead of rally PORTLAND — The mayor of Portland says anyone planning violence or espousing hatred at a weekend protest by right-wing groups in the liberal city “are not welcome here.” Mayor Ted Wheeler spoke Wednesday at a rally with other city leaders ahead of the event Saturday, which is also expected to bring out anti-fascist protesters. Anticipating trouble, none of the city’s nearly 1,000 police officers will have the day off Saturday. The Saturday event is being orga- nized by a member of the Proud Boys, who have been designated by the South- ern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. Wheeler spoke at a rally with dozens of representatives from the city’s religious, police and business groups. He decried any groups “who plan on using Portland on August 17th as a platform to spread your hate.” — Associated Press 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 E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. 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