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THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022
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R CITY
SHEARER’S FOODS FIRE
BOILER EXPLOSION STILL A MYSTERY
Former Shearer’s
safety manager
alleges bad record
at Hermiston plant
he did some in-depth looks into the
facility to identify risks and hazards
and found some he deemed as “high
risk” and “high consequence.” He
was particularly worried about oil
fi res, he said.
While he was at the plant, Dean
said, there were “a bunch of mini-
fi res,” which were the result of mate-
rial building up in ovens. In policies
and procedures, he said, work-
ers were supposed to rake out the
ovens when in a safe state. Accord-
ing to Dean, procedures changed so
workers were using compressed air
to clean the ovens instead.
“You don’t put compressed air
onto fi res,” he said.
He said this is just one example
of the culture at the plant. Practices
were unsafe, not necessarily because
any one person was directing them
poorly, but because those practices
shifted towards being unsafe, he
said. Dean said once people start
doing things one way, they pass on
those habits to new workers and
behaviors become ingrained.
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
H
ERMISTON — More
than three dozen people
are trying to fi gure out
why a boiler exploded
at Hermiston Shearer’s
Foods plant on Feb. 22,
causing a fi re that destroyed the build-
ing and put 231 people out of work.
Scott Goff , Umatilla County Fire
District No. 1 investigator, said on
Tuesday, April 5, the examination
of the site has been delayed. First,
there was trouble because the rubble
was so great it was diffi cult to sort
through it. Also, it took time to
bring together involved parties. In
the past couple of days, big winds
pushed back the investigation,
which was the latest delay.
The examination of the destroyed
Hermiston plant, which once
employed 231 people, has brought
people from the fi re district, Shear-
er’s, insurance carriers and repre-
sentatives of involved equipment
and contractors, according to Goff .
Speculation on the cause
Though the direct cause of the
explosion is yet unknown, one
former Shearer’s Foods employee
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
A toppled section of the Shearer’s Foods plant stands Monday, April 4, 2022.
claims lax safety measures might
have contributed to the explosion.
“I saw a lot of things,” Stephen
Dean said. “I spoke with several
peers that I had that no longer work
there about how many conversa-
tions I had about that place being a
time bomb.”
According to Dean, when he
heard of the explosion and the result-
ing fi re, the fi rst words that came out
of his mouth were, “I told you so.”
He said he was surprised the fi re,
which destroyed the building, sent a
handful of people to the hospital and
left 231 people out of work, was not
worse. After all, no one died.
He said he was plant safety
manager, working directly with
the management team. He said he
“provided safety culture and infl u-
ence and direct safety policy and
procedure” for about one year, from
early 2018 to early 2019.
The Hermiston Herald contacted
the Shearer’s corporate office to
verify Dean’s employment. Shear-
er’s management, though, stated the
company would not share employ-
ment information out of respect for
employees and their confi dentiality.
Dean, however, was able to
present a letter of hire and his own
resignation letter as evidence he had
worked there.
Early in his employment, he said,
Uber exerts infl uence on Pendleton taxi debate
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The future
of ride-hail services in Pendleton
now is in the hands of city attorney
Nancy Kerns.
After ride-hail giant Uber nixed
a proposed ordinance that would
have integrated ride-hails into
Pendleton, Kerns used a Tuesday,
April 5, city council meeting to
ask for guidance as she prepares to
reengage Uber in negotiations.
The city previously was negoti-
ating with Elite Taxi, the city’s only
taxi service, and a group of resi-
dents who aspired to drive for Uber.
After meeting with the two sides,
the city emerged with a framework
that would have allowed, on a trial
basis, ride-hails such as Uber to
operate during the evening hours
while Elite mainly operated during
the day. While the local ride-hail
OSHA weighs in
Aaron Corvin is the public infor-
mation offi cer for Oregon Occupa-
tional Safety and Health, or Oregon
OSHA. He confirmed that the
agency is investigating the Feb. 22
explosion and fi re. He stated in an
email, however, OSHA does not
discuss the status or details of active
cases and he would share informa-
tion about it once the investigation
is complete.
See Fire, Page A6
EASTERN OREGON
Merkley touts
support of
rural Oregon
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Two Elite Taxi vehicles await fares Tuesday, April 5, 2022, at 332 S.E. Dorion Ave., Pendleton. City attorney
See Uber, Page A6 Nancy Kerns is working on a proposal for a pilot project to allow Uber to operate in Pendleton.
WALLA WALLA REGIONAL AIRPORT
Extensive remodel slated to accommodate jets
By MAX ERIKSON
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WALLA WALLA — The future
of air travel at the Walla Walla
Regional Airport is going to get
faster.
Alaska Air Group, parent
company of Alaska Airlines,
announced last week it plans to
transition from turboprop planes to
full-jet aircraft for its Horizon Air
services sometime in 2023.
The Embraer 175 jet aircraft
will be the newest addition to the
airport, replacing the turboprop
Bombardier Q-400, which has
served passengers for many years
and is considered a good work horse
aircraft for regional fl ights.
The Port of Walla Walla is
Greg Lehman/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
The afternoon Alaska Airlines fl ight sits outside the Walla Walla Region-
al Airport on Friday, April 1, 2022.
preparing now for the switch, with
a facilities remodel to accommo-
date the new planes.
The Q-400 has been in opera-
tion at the Walla Walla airport since
2008. The E-175 will have the same
LA GRANDE — Oregon Sen.
Jeff Merkley is setting his sights on
fi re protection and forest resilience
in Eastern Oregon.
The Oregon Democrat previ-
ously promoted The Valley West
Joint Chiefs project
in September 2021
as a way to “ensure
the safety of our
communities, the
resilience of our
forests and the
conservation of our
natural resources,”
Merkley
according to a press
release from Merkley’s offi ce. The
project is a collaboration between
the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation
Service and the U.S. Forest Service.
“I am very happy to be able to
announce that I was able to secure
$1.8 million for the La Grande
Valley West Joint Chiefs project,”
he said during a one-on-one inter-
view Wednesday, March 30. “We’re
talking about precommercial thin-
ning, fuels reduction, prescribed
burning (and) mowing, and all of
it produces jobs in the woods, saw
logs for the mill and a more fi re
resilient forest, which I think is a
triple-win.”
Forest resilience and
response to drought
76-passenger capacity as the Q-400
but with added cabins including
12 for fi rst-class riders, 12 premi-
um-class seats and 52 economy seats.
Last year’s fi re season was one
of the most explosive ones yet in
Oregon, though Eastern Oregon
was largely spared from confl agra-
tions and widespread damage like
that seen in the southern parts of
See Airport, Page A6
See Merkley, Page A6