NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, June 24, 2021
$220M wildfire bill progresses despite fears
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — A far-reaching bill
aimed at reducing Oregon’s wildfire
risks has passed a key budget-set-
ting committee despite fears it could
impose excessive restrictions on
rural areas.
The Joint Ways and Means
Committee voted 14-9 to approve
Senate Bill 762 with a do-pass
recommendation Tuesday, June 22,
clearing the $220 million proposal
for a vote on the Senate floor with
just days to go in the 2021 legisla-
tive session.
The legislation has several
components, such as developing a
wildfire risk map, updating build-
ing codes and improving forest
resiliency, but provisions related to
establishing standards for “defen-
sible space” next to houses have
proven among the most controver-
sial.
Critics say SB 762 has an overly
broad definition of “wildland-urban
interface” that could subject a vast
amount of the rural landscape to
expensive and unsightly vegetation
removal requirements.
The entire reason people move
out to the woods is to be surrounded
by trees and other vegetation, said
Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton. “How
many of you want to have nothing
around your house for 35 feet or
more?”
The new requirements could
add another $50,000 to $100,000 to
the cost of a home when people are
already struggling to obtain permits
Kari Greer/U.S. Forest Service, File
A bill authorizing $220 million in spending to reduce Oregon wildfire risks has made progress despite fears
about excessive “defensible space” requirements around homes.
changing codes. We are all over
the place with this bill and you’ve
had about 20 people who’ve testi-
fied on this bill in one hearing in the
Senate,” said Rep. Christine Drazan,
R-Canby.
While most objections to SB
762 came from Republicans during
recent hearings, some Democrats
also registered misgivings about
the bill.
Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scap-
to rebuild after last year’s wildfires,
he said. “Every obstacle known to
God and man is put before these
people so they can’t rebuild.”
Opponents claim SB 762 hasn’t
received enough vetting in light of
its sweeping nature, particularly
since a recent amendment was
passed without testimony from the
public.
“We are changing land use, we
are impacting building, we are
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poose, said she was concerned about
the paucity of public testimony and
the expansive “wildland-urban
interface” definition, though she
ultimately voted to approve the bill
for a vote on the Senate floor.
Johnson noted her family owns
a home in the woods of Central
Oregon.
“I’ll be damned before I cut down
any of the trees around that house,”
she said.
The bill’s defenders said the
alarm about severe “defensible
space” requirements and the “wild-
land-urban interface” definition
were misguided because the specif-
ics would be refined during agency
rule-making.
Areas within the wildland-urban
interface will be categorized accord-
ing to risk classifications and won’t
face blanket restrictions, said Rep.
Tina Kotek, D-Portland.
“You have to be in the wild-
land-urban interface and in a certain
risk level for certain things to apply,”
she said. “Let’s not forget that.”
Homeowners whose property
was destroyed in last year’s wild-
fires won’t be subject to the restric-
tions and have an “expedited path to
rebuilding” under other legislation,
she said.
Rep. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland,
said only the “extreme” and “high
risk” classes within the wildland-ur-
ban interface would face regulation
under SB 762.
It would be “vanishingly rare” for
homes in agricultural areas to come
under such restrictions, he said.
Homes subject to regulation won’t
face “cookie-cutter” restrictions but
would undergo property-specific
consultation.
The “dystopian image” of a clear-
cut “scorched earth” landscape is
not what the bill aims to accom-
plish, though some landowners will
face requirements they don’t like,
Golden said.
“The defensible space is the crux
of this. There is no more important
element,” he said.
SAR training planned this weekend
East Oregonian
Mostly sunny and
hot
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very hot
93° 65°
99° 65°
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sizzling sunshine
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
104° 70°
103° 68°
109° 71°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
97° 69°
103° 68°
108° 70°
100° 64°
109° 74°
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
73/57
84/59
96/66
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
92/68
Lewiston
82/56
97/69
Astoria
68/56
Pullman
Yakima 96/75
80/57
94/66
Portland
Hermiston
85/62
The Dalles 97/69
Salem
Corvallis
81/57
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
88/61
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
89/57
91/58
89/58
Ontario
99/68
Caldwell
Burns
98°
70°
82°
55°
106° (1958) 40° (2009)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Albany
85/58
0.00"
0.23"
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WINDS (in mph)
95/67
91/56
0.00"
0.28"
0.97"
4.31"
8.55"
7.48"
through 3 p.m. yest.
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Pendleton 86/56
87/60
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
93/65
93/68
93°
64°
81°
54°
102° (1992) 40° (1920)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
81/58
Aberdeen
89/65
93/70
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
80/62
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
96/63
Fri.
WSW 6-12
W 7-14
NNE 6-12
NW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
88/49
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:07 a.m.
8:49 p.m.
9:22 p.m.
4:44 a.m.
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ENTERPRISE — Eastern
Oregon Search and Rescue
will hold an annual training
at Salt Creek Summit from
Friday, June 25, through
Sunday, June 27, according
to a press release.
Travelers taking the U.S.
Forest Service 39 Road to
Halfway or Hells Canyon this
weekend can expect some
delays, along with all-terrain
vehicles, pickups, people
and maybe even extra help
if trouble occurs. Search and
rescue units from across East-
ern Oregon will hold their
annual training exercise in
the Salt Creek Summit area
this weekend.
“This training is a huge
value to all of our volunteers
to be able to network and
train with multiple agencies
from Northeast Oregon,”
Wallowa County SAR Capt.
Brent Neely said. “Partici-
pating counties frequently
call on each other for mutual
aid for specialized rescues or
extended searches and having
experience training with each
other’s teams is invaluable.”
There may be signifi-
cant traffic and utility vehi-
WHO TO CONTACT
For more information, contact Ellen Morris Bishop, Wallowa
County SAR public relations, at 541-398-1810 or paleo-
bishop@gmail.com; or Paige Sully, Wallowa County SAR, at
541-426-0535.
cles and ATV congestion in
and around the Salt Creek
Summit parking area during
the training time. The park-
ing lot will be open to the
public, but parking may be
limited due to the volume
of SAR equipment and tents
staged there.
About 100 search and
rescue volunteers from
10 Eastern Oregon coun-
ties (Baker, Gilliam, Grant,
Harney, Malheur, Morrow,
Union, Umatilla, Wallowa
and Wheeler) are expected
to take part in the exercises.
Most will be camping in the
Salt Creek Summit area,
near where most of the train-
ing will take place. Wallowa
County SAR volunteers are
hosting the event.
The training includes work
in fast-tracking, respond-
ing to a swiftwater (water
rescue) emergency, advanced
incident command, land
searches, K-9 land searches,
civil air patrol searches and
searching using a drone.
“If you plan to recreate
or travel in this area, please
be aware of this training,”
Wallowa County Search and
Rescue event coordinator
Paige Sully said. “However
serious it may appear, we
are not engaged in an actual
search and rescue incident
response.”
The Wallowa County SAR
volunteers have developed
the training exercises that
also include equine packing
and rescue.
“There are thousands of
volunteer hours that go into
planning and training at this
event,” Neely said. “I want to
say ‘thank you’ to all the SAR
members for the personal
time, energy, and money they
donate to make our Northeast
Oregon SAR teams the best
they can be.”
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 108° in Borger, Texas Low 26° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
Baker City man
accused of defrauding
construction clients
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
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E AST O REGONIAN
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BAKER CITY — A Baker City man is
accused of receiving money from clients for
construction projects that he failed to start
or finish.
Kenneth Edward Hackett, 51, was arrested
at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 19, in Baker City
on two counts of aggravated theft and one
count of first-degree theft.
The warrant from Baker County Circuit
Court stems from investigations by the Baker
City Police Department and Baker County
Sheriff’s Office related to construction fraud
complaints, according to a press release from
Ray Duman, interim administrator for the
Baker City Police.
The two agencies investigated two inci-
dents with a combined loss of $78,000,
according to the press release.
A third case, from Union County, also was
reported to Baker City Police.
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Three other cases reported to Baker City
Police were settled by civil action between
the residents and Hackett, according to the
press release.
According to the Oregon Contractor
Construction Board, Hackett has never been
a licensed contractor in Oregon.
The agency fined Hackett five times
between 2009 and 2021 for working with-
out a license, and he owes $25,491 in penal-
ties, including interest, said Leslie Culpepper,
communications and education manager for
the Contractor Construction Board.
Hackett is one of two defendants in a civil
lawsuit for breach of contract filed March 3,
2021, in Baker County Circuit Court by Jerry
P. Martin of Baker City.
The other defendant is A+ Affordable
Construction LLC, a Baker City company
owned by Joanna Dixon, a Baker City City
Council member.
Dixon’s company’s license with the
Construction Contractors Board has expired,
according to agency records.
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