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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 2019)
A12 NEWS Wallowa County Chieftain Wednesday, December 25, 2019 Imnaha, Joseph upgrade emergency medical response Brooke Pace Wallowa Memorial Hospital With strong support from the Emergency Med- ical Services community at Wallowa Memorial Hos- pital, both Imnaha and the City of Joseph have imple- mented a new tier of medical fi rst response called “First Responders”. These First Responders will be paged for all 911 calls for emer- gency medical assistance and will precede the ambu- lance responding from the hospital in Enterprise. The community of Imnaha, with Dick Burch and Project Heartbeat, launched an initial level of “citizen fi rst-aid response” last year. About 16 local Imnaha community mem- bers received training in Advanced First Aid. The Imnaha Commu- nity has raised over $25,000 towards that effort over the past several years, invest- ing in things like medi- cal supplies and equip- ment, two-way radios and even permanent installa- tion of helicopter landing lights at the Imnaha Church. Ellen Morris Bishop Tim Peck and EMT Botts with the Wallowa Memorial Hospital ambulance. Joseph and Imnaha also both now have certifi ed fi rst responders. “The community has shown strong support for an effort to help their friends and neighbors in need during emergency medical crisis or traumatic events,” said Tim Peck, EMS Director at Wal- lowa Memorial Hospital. “…and the dedication and concern towards their neigh- Happ y New Year! Market Place Fresh Foods Enjoy a Smoked Turkey! WHOL TURKEY E Hi, I’m Mr. Smokey Place Your Order Early To Guarantee Delivery! $3.99LB Order By: 12/27/2019 541-398-0019 • Meat Department 541-577-9090 • Store DISHWASHERS, Come in today MICROWAVES, STOVES, for a special WASHER AND DRYERS, REFRIGERATORS selection of: & FREEZERS! Ed Staub & Sons Energy Community Service. 201 East Hwy 82 Enterprise, OR 97828 541-426-0320 WALLOWA COUNTY 519 W. North Street, Enterprise 541.426.3413 Mon-Thurs 9 to Noon/1-5pm; Fri. 9-1 bors in need has been noth- ing short of amazing!” In addition to Advanced First Aid training of the initial group of volun- teers, three of those Imnaha Advanced First-Aid trained citizens went even further and became licensed by the State of Oregon as “Emer- gency Medical Responders” (EMR). Those three EMRs will now become offi cially part of the EMS system and volunteers of Wallowa EMS. The EMR program, dubbed “IFR” for Imnaha First Responder program, will be an offi cial arm of Wallowa EMS; and, their offi cial affi liation with the hospital allows them to be paged from the county’s 911 dispatch center as part of the EMS system. “Licensing as EMRs ‘changed every- thing’,” said Peck. Being licensed to provide medical care allows the hospital to provide signifi cant resources to each EMR as a hospital volunteer. The new EMRs will be outfi tted with fur- ther supplies and equipment, especially safety-related personal protective equip- ment, medical director-au- thorized pre-hospital care protocols, and even on-the- job injury protections. “We think it’s an important level of protection to give them as licensed professionals,” Peck added. The Joseph Fire Depart- ment became licensed by the State of Oregon to pro- vide emergency medi- cal response, as well. Five Joseph fi remen have com- pleted the EMR course provided by the hospi- tal EMS department over the past winter. While not directly affi liated with Wal- lowa Memorial Hospital, the Joseph First Responders (JFRs) will be dispatched to all 911 medical calls in the Joseph Fire District response area. This early arrival of EMR level care can defi - nitely save a life!” said Peck. “We’re very proud of the dedication and effort put into this program by all involved.” Joseph EMRs have trained hard, have been well-supported and encour- aged by fi re chief Jeff Wecks (one of the EMRs), and their efforts will surely pay off in a lives saved.” Whether in Imnaha or Joseph, the advent of licensed Emergency Medi- cal Responders throughout the community improves chances of early medi- cal response for the citi- zens of Wallowa County. It is important to note that each of the newly trained individuals are volunteers and, while there is no guar- antee that any of them will be available at any given time (there is no legal “duty to respond” on the part of unpaid volunteers), we believe the chances of early care is greatly improved by their presence in their communities! Keeping wildfi res at bay as homes expand into urban-wildland interface Farming and ranching lands also aff ected By Brad Carlson Capital Press Dorothy Finaldi watched as aircraft swooped across the landscape, dropping load after load of fi re retardant near a new housing develop- ment north of Boise, Idaho. “It was defi nitely a wait- and-see what would happen with the hillside because of cheatgrass,” said Finaldi, a Central Foothills Neigh- borhood Association board member. “Our home was not immediately at risk,” Finaldi said of the wildfi re that swept through the hillsides a couple of years ago, “but if we had not had the wild- land fi re crews, it could have been much worse.” Development near fast-growing cities such as Boise not only takes agri- cultural land out of produc- tion, it can create a problem for the new residents, who want to live in open areas and forests but fi nd them- selves exposed to a height- ened threat of wildfi res. This year alone in Cali- fornia, insurance companies estimate wildfi res caused more than $25 billion in damage — mainly to homes built on or near ag and for- est land. In other swaths of the West a growing number of housing developments border wildfi re-prone for- ests and grassland. In those areas, homeowners, fi re- fi ghters and insurance com- panies are seeking ways to keep wildfi res at bay. Merry Christmas Bureau of Land Management An airtanker drops retardant to help stop the spread of the Eyrie Fire in southern Idaho in 2015. Fastest-growing use “Wildland-urban interface is the fastest-growing land- use type in the U.S., and as it grows, more people mean more fi re starts and more potential for loss of property and life,” said Jared Jablon- ski, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Boise District fi re information offi cer. The loss of farm and ranch land can be at least partially attributed to bur- geoning housing construc- tion. Between 1997 and 2017, the number of crop acres fell 13.7% in Oregon, 9.7% in Washington, 8.7% in Idaho and 13.2% in Califor- nia. Nationwide, the average shrinkage was 10.9%. During the same 20 years, the number of pasture acres shrank by 11.25% in Ore- gon, 17.4% in Washington, 7.6% in Idaho and 22.5% in California. As farms and ranches have been gobbled up for homes they have exposed the new developments to the potential for wildfi res. The 2019 Verisk Wildfi re Risk Analysis found 4.5 million homes nationwide, including more than 2 million in Cali- fornia, are at high or extreme risk of wildfi re damage. “There is fi nally begin- ning to be kind of a culture shock and culture change that government cannot resolve all of the issues with wildland fi re itself,” said Bob Roper, a retired Ventura County, Calif., fi re chief and former Nevada state forester. “... This needs the public’s help and ultimately we need to learn to live with wildfi re.” In Central Oregon, fast-growing Deschutes County has for years seen development close to for- ests and grassland used for grazing. “With the rapid growth that we have in the North- west, in Oregon and in Deschutes County, we are seeing more and more Prairie Creek Quilts growth in the wildland-ur- ban interface,” said Zecha- riah Heck, associate planner for the county. Deschutes County has numerous zones for the wild- land-urban areas, including a forest-use zone that is fairly restrictive and requires con- ditional-use approval before a home is built. John Bailey, a professor in the Oregon State Univer- sity College of Forestry, said Bend and some other com- munities in the West have made strides. For planned development projects, “the secret is, right at the beginning, admitting it’s going to be challenged by wildfi re on a number of dif- ferent fronts,” he said. Such challenges include “a wind-driven fi re coming towards it, but also all of the ember rain that is going to be cast into it. Many communi- ties are getting there, and the insurance industry is getting there,” Bailey said. Our gift certificates make great stocking stuffers OFF 50% All Christmas lights and decorations Wallowa County Ace Hardware 101 W. North Street • Enterprise Corner of North & River 541-426-3622 • acehardware.com The Hillock Family
