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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 2019)
WEDNESDAY BAKER VOLLEYBALL, GIRLS AND BOYS SOCCER IN ACTION: PAGE 6A BAKER COUNTY 35(6(17('%<($6725(*21,$10(',$*5283 KICKOFF ’19 ’1 High character 0XOWLVSRUWDWKOHWH5LOH\)ODQDJDQ ZLOOEHFDOOHGRQWRKHOS%DNHUJHW EDFNWRWKHWRSRIWKH*2/ Inside %XOOGRJVKDYHQHZOHDGHUVKLSDV WKH\JHWVHWIRUWKHVHDVRQ 3LQH(DJOHKRSHVWRNQRZWKH V\VWHPEHWWHUJHWEDFNLQSOD\RIIV 3RZGHU9DOOH\HQGXUHVWZR VXPPHUFRDFKLQJFKDQJHV INSIDE TODAY Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com September 4, 2019 IN THIS EDITION: Local • Business & AgLife • Go! magazine $1.50 Storm could cool blaze Firefi ghting Helicopters Based At Baker City Airport Fires and Flying INSIDE TODAY By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com You’ll fi nd a com- plimentary copy of the 2019 Round-Up magazine, an 80-page publication of the East Oregonian. This year’s edition profi les some of the hundreds of volunteers who make possible the Pendleton Round-Up, one of the iconic annual events in the Northwest, which runs from Sept. 7-14. QUICK HITS S. John Collins / Baker City Herald Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Kim Mosier of Baker City. WEATHER Today 90 / 51 Mostly sunny Thursday 92 / 56 Storms possible Full forecast on the back of the B section. Correction: A story in Monday’s issue about the Baker City Lions Club contained an error. The Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, not 1929. The space below will be blank on issues delivered or sold from boxes. The space is for a postage label for issues that are mailed. Our new, expanded section previewing high school football across N.E. Oregon Brian Sigler of Bend pilots one of two Kaman K-MAX helicopters stationed at the Baker City Airport this week to douse hot spots on the 204 Cow fi re at the southwest corner of Baker County. See Fire/Page 2A By Jayson Jacoby BMCC director reflects on time in Baker jjacoby@bakercityherald.com Brian Sigler has to hover his helicopter so precisely that he can dip a bucket dangling 150 feet below his aircraft into a container scarcely bigger than a toddler’s wading pool. Also he once had to fl y over the Las Vegas Strip and gently place six air conditioners on the roof of a hotel. Sigler, it hardly needs to be said, values visibility. Which is among the many reasons he has such an affi nity for the Ka- man K-MAX. “When I look out I don’t even see the aircraft,” Sigler, 37, said Tues- day morning as he stood beside the noticeably narrow helicopter in a grassy fi eld on the west side of the Baker City Airport. “The best thing about it is visibility. I can look out from both sides. It’s real nice to fl y.” He was waiting for the call to do just that. Sigler, who lives in Bend and works for Central Copters of Boze- man, Montana, was ready to take off on a 25-minute fl ight across Baker County to the 204 Cow fi re south- west of Unity, where he can douse hot spots with 660 gallons of water. Sigler and the helicopter’s mechanic, Tim Foust, are part of a veritable air armada stationed at the Airport to help ground crews cor- ral the fi re, which has burned about 8,800 acres since it was started by lightning Aug. 9 on the Malheur National Forest. On Tuesday morning fi ve chop- pers were scattered about the Airport. The fl eet included a pair of Kaman K-MAXs from Central Copters. See Copters/Page 3A With the coolest weather since June forecast to ar- rive late in the weekend, along with widespread rain, Forest Service offi cials expect the Granite Gulch fi re to simmer down. But the blaze in the Eagle Cap Wilderness northeast of Baker City could boil up a bit in the meantime. “The incoming storms will certainly slow things down for a while after a peak in activity Wednesday and Thursday,” said Adam Wing, incident commander on the Granite Gulch fi re. ■ Daniel Koopman has started a new job in Coos Bay By Chris Collins ccollins@bakercityherald.com S. John Collins / Baker City Herald The Kaman K-MAX helicopter has unique features including fl aps (red arrows in the photo) on the rotors, which twist the blades and allow the pilot to maneuver the aircraft. The rotors are side-by-side, but angled so they spin without touching. When Daniel Koopman arrived in Baker City in August 2015 to become the Baker County direc- Koopman tor of Blue Mountain Community College, smoke darkened the sky and hung over the town. It was the summer of the Cornet-Windy Ridge blaze that torched nearly 104,000 acres south of Baker City, including homes and outbuildings in the Stices Gulch area. “That was really rough,” Koopman said of his fi rst month in his new position. See Koopman/Page 5A Baker County to be featured in documentary Travel Baker County, learned about the project at a travel conference A fi lm crew will tour Baker County called Go West Summit. In a conversa- this weekend to explore the arts in ru- tion with the producer, Bishop talked ral America as part of a documentary about various aspects of art in Baker and television series called AmericArt County, including the Great Salt Lick 2019. art contest and auction. The project mission is “Let’s talk But Baker City was not on the list about art. All voices matter.” of stops. Timothy Bishop, who heads up “At that point in time, they were By Lisa Britton For the Baker City Herald TODAY Issue 50, 158 pages Business ...........1B & 2B Calendar ....................2A Classified ............. 4B-7B Comics ....................... 3B Community News ....3A Crossword ........5B & 6B looking at a route farther south that didn’t include Oregon,” Bishop said. Then he got a call in April — the route changed and Baker County was chosen as one of the 10 featured com- munities invited to participate. “We are super excited to be on that short list,” Bishop said. The other featured communities are: Montgomery County, Maryland; Dear Abby ................. 8B Horoscope ........5B & 6B Lottery Results ..........2A Franklin, Tennessee; Wichita, Kansas; McPherson, Kansas; Pueblo, Colorado; Glenwood Springs, Colorado; Elko, Nevada; Reno Tahoe Nevada; and Sonoma County, California. Bishop worked with Ginger Savage at Crossroads Carnegie Art Center and the Baker Art Guild to prepare for the visit. News of Record ........2A Obituaries ..................2A Opinion ......................4A See Documentary/Page 2A Senior Menus ...........2A Sports ........................6A Weather ..................... 8B FRIDAY — IN THE MOUNTAINS, PASSES SOMETIMES SURPASS PEAKS