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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, July 1, 2021
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Fireworks explode over the drive-in screen at Weston-McE-
wen’s commencement ceremony at the M-F Drive-in in Mil-
ton-Freewater May 28, 2020. The city of Milton-Freewater
announced a burn ban that includes fireworks on June 21,
2021.
Fireworks:
Continued from Page A1
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A Columbia Basin Student Homes truck sits across the street from the newest Fieldstone Crossing student-built home on
Southeast Angus Court in Hermiston Tuesday, June 29, 2021.
HHS:
Continued from Page A1
3-bedroom, 2½-bathroom
home from foundation to
its recent sale for just under
$450,000.
The home features high-
end finishes, such as speak-
ers, a central vacuum system,
an oversized refrigerator and
hidden pantry. The students
also work with Energy Trust
of Oregon and its partners
to ensure the home exceeds
codes for energy efficiency.
Todd Black man, an
outreach specialist with
EPS New Construction, said
the home tested 18% above
energy code in insulation, air
sealing and appliances.
“A lot of people think they
build an efficient home,” he
said. “But unless you test it
and build it right you don’t
know.”
Berger said students have
their hands on all aspects
of the construction process,
from foundation to framing
to the finishing touches.
“If we don’t do something
we see it done and they get
to work with the contractors
throughout the process,” said
Berger.
Saul Cadenas was among
those who took park in this
year’s project. He described
the build as an a positive
learning experience. He said
prior to the home construc-
tion he’d worked on little
projects but never imagined
building a home.
“It was something new
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Curt Berger, right, hands over the keys to the seventh Fieldstone Crossing student-built
home to Mike and Loy Stratton in Hermiston Tuesday, June 29, 2021.
that I really enjoyed doing,”
he said. “I learned a lot
through the process.”
Cadenas said he learned
how to read blueprints and
apply them to a construction
process, and the class ulti-
mately inspired him to want
to build his own home some-
day.
“It gave me more moti-
vation to further my career
and be able to get to building
a home,” he said. “Take that
class, it’s definitely worth it.”
In 2013, the district
received a $372,674 Career
Technical Education grant
and joined forces with the
Northeast Oregon Home-
builders Association to train
high school students in resi-
dential construction through
the Columbia Basin Student
Homebuilders program. Each
year the district uses the sale
of the home to fund the home
for the upcoming year.
This year’s program
only was open to Hermis-
ton High School students
due to COVID-19 restric-
tions, though a traditional
year would be open to high
school students from schools
throughout the Columbia
Basin, said Berger.
In addition to construc-
tion, Her miston High
students handle the architec-
tural design and landscaping
of the homes.
Records:
Continued from Page A1
“The sheer magnitude of
the temperatures is unprece-
dented,” Cole Evans, a fore-
caster for the weather service
station in Pendleton, said.
Meteorologists often have
referred to the heat wave as
a “heat dome,” a phenome-
non Evans compared to a
car parked under the sun for
an extended period of time.
Evans said a layer of high
atmospheric pressure formed
over the Northwest, allow-
ing warmer temperatures
to build over time until they
crested this week.
The heat may have been
harsh enough to claim a life.
The numbers still are prelim-
inary, but the Oregon State
Medical Examiner’s Office
reported Wednesday, June
30, one death related to
the heat wave in Umatilla
County.
Umatilla County was not
alone. The Oregon Medi-
cal Examiner’s Office also
reported preliminary inves-
tigations revealed Columbia
County had one death due
to heat, Clackamas County
had two, Washington County
had five, Marion County had
nine and Multnomah had 45.
While some Northwest
communities nearer to
the Pacific Ocean already
are starting to see signifi-
cant cooldown, it may take
a little longer for Eastern
Oregon to break the heat.
Although temperatures are
expected to retreat from their
record-breaking patterns,
Evans said the tempera-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
An electronic display registers 116 degrees Tuesday, June 29,
2021, at Armand Larive Middle School in Hermiston. The Na-
tional Weather Service reported the temperature in Hermis-
ton that day topped out at 118, setting a new record high for
the city.
ture is expected to stay in
the triple digits through the
Fourth of July weekend as
stagnant wind conditions
will keep much of the heat in
place. The temperature isn’t
expected to dip down into
the 90s until well into the
first full week of July.
Another unusual aspect of
the heat wave is how early it
came in the summer season.
Evans said the region likely
will see more standard heat
waves in July and August,
but they are unlikely to be as
severe as their predecessor.
The potential for fire
d a nge r prompt ed t he
Umatilla National Forest to
implement more public use
restrictions effective as of
12:01 a.m. July 1.
The U.S. Forest Service
in a press release stated
the increased restrictions
pertain to the use of camp-
fires, smoking, chain saws,
internal combustion engines
and generators.
Under the stricter rules,
campfires only will be
allowed in designated camp-
grounds and recreation
sites. Liquefied or bottled
gas stoves and heaters are
allowed for cooking and
heating.
Operating an internal
combustion engine, such as
a chain saw, requires a valid
permit. Generators will only
be allowed in the center of
an area at least 10 feet in
diameter that is cleared of
all flammable material; or
when contained within a
pickup bed that is devoid
of all flammable material;
or when factory installed
in a recreational vehicle
and the generator exhaust
discharge is in the center
of an area at least 10 feet in
diameter that is cleared of all
flammable material.
Bryson Bonnifer said it
was a “pretty cool” expe-
rience to help assemble the
framing and other aspects of
the house.
“I learned everything
really, it was interesting,” he
said. “I really enjoyed climb-
ing in the trusses and putting
studs in.”
Bonnifer said the experi-
ence allowed him to receive
a scholarship from Columbia
Basin Student Homes, and
he will continue to pursue
an interest in construction,
adding that the experience
was unlike any other.
“I just toured the finished
house,” Bonnifer said, “and it
was pretty incredible.”
Smoking is only allowed
within enclosed vehicles,
buildings and developed
recreation sites or when
stopped in an area cleared of
all flammable material.
For more information
about the Umatilla National
Forest’s public use restric-
tions, contact the Umatilla
National Forest Information
Hotline at 877-958-9663
or visit it website at www.
fs.usda.gov/umatilla.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry also could
have restrictions in place.
For information, contact a
local Oregon Department of
Forestry office or visit one
of the interagency dispatch
center’s webpages:
• Blue Mountain Inter-
agency Dispatch webpage:
www.bmidc.org.
• John Day Interagency
Dispatch webpage: bicc-
jdidc.org/index.shtml.
The heat wave still could
have long-ter m conse-
quences for fire season,
which was reflected by Gov.
Kate Brown declaring a state
of emergency over the immi-
nent threat of wildfire.
As temperature records
broke across the North-
west, some residents have
expressed fear that climate
change means the heat wave
has established a new normal
for summer conditions.
Paul Loikith, the director
of the Portland State Univer-
sity Climate Science Lab,
told Willamette Week the
“heat dome” still is possible
regardless of climate change,
but global warming played
a factor in making the heat
wave more intense than it
usually would be.
issues of public safety and
act when it’s necessary.
And we believe we’re in the
conditions right now that
require unique action.”
Com missioner Dan
Dorran said in the six months
he has served on the county
board, he has received more
communications and phone
calls on this issue than any
other.
“The fear is real,” he
said. “As a property owner,
it scares the heck out of me.
As a citizen it really scares
me in regards to the rest of
the public. It’s just an acci-
dent waiting to happen.”
Pendleton Police Chief
Chuck Byram told the coun-
cil that officers will approach
enforcement of the fire-
works ban like they do when
responding to the use of ille-
gal fireworks. Once police
spot a firework in the sky,
they will attempt to track
down the person who set
it off. He added the police
intend to only fine violators
if they don’t respond to a
warning.
Ashland, Sandy, Port-
land, Tualatin, Bend, Hood
River and The Dalles have
implemented some form of
fireworks ban, according to
The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Oregon outlaws fireworks
that fly, explode, travel more
than 6 feet on the ground or
12 inches into the air, but
officials said this doesn’t stop
some residents from buying
fireworks in other states and
shooting them off in Oregon.
The Rotary Club of
Pendleton has organized an
official Fourth of July fire-
works show in years past,
but Byram said there will be
no show this year. Pendleton
joins Umatilla County and
Milton-Freewater in banning
local fireworks.
Milton-Freewater
Fire Chief Shane Garner
announced a burn ban on
June 21, which includes fire-
works, according to a press
release from the city.
Hermiston will not ban
fireworks, according to
Mark Morgan, the assis-
Manager:
Continued from Page A1
forced the city to reckon
with new tech needs like
Zoom, it also resulted
in millions of dollars in
federal stimulus. The city
eventually allocated $3.4
million for facility mainte-
nance projects at the Vert
Auditorium, the Pendleton
Convention Center and the
Pendleton River Parkway.
Reflecting on his career,
Graham said he was fortu-
nate to have good staff
working under him and
good city managers work-
ing over him.
City Manager Robb
Corbett said Graham was
the type of employee “who
seemed to know a little
something about every-
thing,” someone who could
harness his institutional
knowledge not only to help
the city, but to help anybody
who needed to lean on
public resources.
“He’s on speed dial for
everyone we work with
every year,” he said.
Corbett pulled Graham’s
1987 performance evalua-
tion, where the evaluator
praised Graham’s knowl-
edge of mechanical systems
while noting he was not
tant city manager. Forecasts
show triple-digit tempera-
tures in the Hermiston area
throughout the next week.
Since April, Hermiston has
reported some of the driest
conditions ever recorded,
according to the National
Weather Service in Pendle-
ton.
Rather than making a
formal statement cautioning
people against the use of fire-
works this holiday, Morgan
said, the city will rely on
local fire officials to encour-
age people to be safe.
The city is planning a fire-
works show from the Herm-
iston Butte under contract
with a licensed firework
vendor. The vendor, accord-
ing to Morgan, has a wind
threshold and will decide
with the fire marshal whether
or not to cancel.
Pendleton Fire Chief Jim
Critchley said officials will
be on the lookout to enforce
these rules.
“It’s the ones that go off
illegally that we will find and
we will give you citations,”
he said. “Those are the ones
that are going to cause prob-
lems and burn down a house
or burn down a field. That’s
what I dread.”
Critchley and Jimmy
Davis, the operations chief
for Umatilla Fire District 1,
which covers Stanfield and
Hermiston, said they are
concerned for the firefighters
working through the extreme
heat.
“Fortunately, we haven’t
had any major fire calls yet,”
said Davis. “But this is the
kind of weather where we
start losing firemen very
quick too, when it gets this
hot.”
Davis and Critchley each
said the fire departments
will increase staffing over
the weekend.
“Of all the weeks I spend
worrying about that world,
this is the one I worry the
most about,” Critchley said.
“I worry about the heat, I
worry about the fires and
having enough resources to
get in front of a fire when it
starts.”
———
East Oregonian reporter
Antonio Sierra contributed
to this feature.
easily replaceable.
John Nelson, who served
as Pendleton’s city manager
at the time, said another
employee likely wrote that
evaluation, but he agreed
with everything it said. He
called Graham a “two-fer,”
an employee who did a job
that it would take two staff
to replace.
As he heads into retire-
ment, Graham said he now
has more time to spend
with his wife, who retired
several years ago, and with
his hobbies. Graham now is
free to take his fleet of three
Jeeps into the mountains or
use his time to build “steam-
punk lamps,” a do-it-your-
self activity that repurposes
old materials into new
lamps.
Graham may not get a
building named after him
or a statue like other Pend-
leton luminaries, but there
are more subtle markers of
his legacy.
Back in the 1970s,
Graham said the city used
to send an army of staff
to places such as Olney
Cemetery and Community
Park to manually water the
lawns with hoses. Much has
changed in the city of Pend-
leton over the past 45 years,
but the sprinkler system
Graham helped install
remains in use today.