SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A5
LOCAL & STATE
Fire destroys historic California town Rain aids in
keeping city
water use down
Winds propel Dixie fire through Greenville
By Noah Berger
Associated Press
GREENVILLE, Calif. — A 3-week-old
wildfire engulfed a Northern California
mountain town, leaving much of the
downtown in ashes, while a new wind-
whipped blaze also destroyed homes as
crews braced for another explosive run of
flames Thursday, Aug. 5 in the midst of
dangerous weather.
The Dixie Fire, swollen by bone-dry
vegetation and 40 mph gusts, raged
through the northern Sierra Nevada
town of Greenville on Wednesday eve-
ning, Aug. 4. A gas station, hotel and bar
were among many fixtures gutted in the
town, which dates to California’s Gold
Rush era and has some structures more
than a century old.
It wasn’t immediately known how
many buildings were demolished, but
photos and video from the scene indicate
the destruction was widespread.
“We lost Greenville tonight,” U.S. Rep.
Doug LaMalfa, who represents the area,
said in an emotional Facebook video.
“There’s just no words.”
As the fire’s north and eastern sides
exploded, the Plumas County Sheriff’s
Office issued a Facebook posting warning
the town’s approximately 800 residents:
“You are in imminent danger and you
MUST leave now!”
The growing blaze that broke out July
21 was the state’s largest wildfire and
had blackened over 504 square miles. It
had burned dozens of homes before mak-
ing its new run.
“We did everything we could,” fire
spokesman Mitch Matlow said. “Some-
times it’s just not enough.”
About 100 miles to the south, officials
said between 35 and 40 homes and other
structures burned in the fast-moving
River Fire that broke out Wednesday
near Colfax, a town of about 2,000
residents. Within hours it ripped through
nearly 4 square miles of dry brush and
trees. There was no containment and
about 6,000 people were under evacu-
ation orders across Placer and Nevada
counties, according to the California De-
partment of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Early in the week, some 5,000 fire-
fighters had made progress on the Dixie
Fire, saving some threatened homes,
bulldozing pockets of unburned vegeta-
tion and managing to surround a third of
the perimeter.
More fire engines and bulldozers were
being ordered to bolster the fight, Matlow
said. On Wednesday, the fire grew by
thousands of acres and an additional
4,000 people were ordered to evacuate,
bringing nearly 26,500 people in several
counties under evacuation orders, he
said.
Red flag weather conditions of high
heat, low humidity and gusty afternoon
and evening winds erupted Wednesday
and were expected to be a continued
threat.
Winds were expected to change direc-
tion multiple times on Thursday, putting
pressure on firefighters at sections of the
fire that haven’t seen activity in several
days, officials said.
The trees, grass and brush were
so dry that “if an ember lands, you’re
virtually guaranteed to start a new fire,”
Matlow said.
The Dixie Fire was running parallel to
a canyon area that served as a chimney,
making it so hot that it created enormous
pyrocumulus columns of smoke. These
clouds bring chaotic winds, making a fire
“critically erratic” so it’s hard to predict
the direction of growth, he added.
Dawn Garofalo fled with a dog and
two horses from a friend’s mountain
property, and watched the soaring cloud
grow from the west side of Lake Almanor.
averaged about 4.3 mil-
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com lion gallons per day, and
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images-TNS
Buildings are left in ruin as the Dixie
fire tears through downtown Green-
ville, California on Wednesday, Aug.
4, 2021.
“There’s only one way in and one way
out,” she said Wednesday. “I didn’t want to
be stuck up there if the fire came through.”
And about 150 miles to the west of the
Dixie Fire, the lightning-sparked McFar-
land Fire threatened remote homes along
the Trinity River in the Shasta-Trinity
National Forest. The fire was only 7%
contained after burning through nearly 33
square miles of drought-stricken vegeta-
tion.
Similar risky weather was expected
across Southern California, where heat
advisories and warnings were issued for
interior valleys, mountains and deserts for
much of the week.
Heat waves and historic drought tied
to climate change have made wildfires
harder to fight in America’s West. Scien-
tists say climate change has made the
region much warmer and drier in the
past 30 years and will continue to make
weather more extreme and wildfires more
frequent and destructive.
More than 20,000 firefighters and sup-
port personnel were battling 97 large, ac-
tive wildfires covering 2,919 square miles
in 13 U.S. states, the National Interagency
Fire Center said.
US plans 50% more wild horse
roundups amid Western drought
By Scott Sonner
Associated Press
RENO, Nev. — U.S. land
managers have begun efforts
to capture about 50% more
wild horses than originally
planned this year because
of severe drought across the
U.S. West — about 6,000
additional animals primar-
ily in Nevada, Oregon and
Colorado.
The Bureau of Land
Management said the emer-
gency roundups that began
Sunday in Oregon and Mon-
day in Nevada concentrate
on places where “chronic
overpopulation” of the herds
“already has stretched the
available food and water to
its limits.”
“As one of the agencies
charged with the responsibil-
ity to protect and manage
America’s wild horses and
burros, the BLM is prepared
to take emergency action
where we can in order to
save the lives of these cher-
ished animals,” said Nada
Wolff Culver, the bureau’s
deputy director for policy and
programs.
The agency is committed
to “continuing our efforts
to reduce overpopulation
across the West and achieve
healthy, sustainable herd
sizes that are more capable
of withstanding severe condi-
tions, including prolonged
drought, which are becoming
more frequent due to climate
change,” she said in an-
nouncing the effort Monday.
Horse advocates say the
emergency roundups that
will continue into September
are being driven by pressure
from ranchers who don’t
want the mustangs compet-
ing with their livestock for
limited forage and water.
One advocate said she’s
especially disappointed the
Biden administration is con-
tinuing the policies of former
President Donald Trump
and previous administra-
tions that prioritized removal
of horses that are federally
protected without reining
in the number of cattle and
sheep grazing on the same
land.
“Profit-driven interests
Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS, File
Wild horses in a corral after being captured in Lassen
County, California, in August 2010.
ravage the landscape, and
we blame the horse,” said
Laura Leigh, president of the
nonprofit group Wild Horse
Education.
“Absolutely nothing has
changed under the Biden
administration except we
are being spoon-fed a dose of
greenwash that they ‘care’
about the environment and
wild things,” she said.
The National Cattle-
men’s Beef Association said
ranchers already have made
voluntary changes to reduce
and rotate grazing on fed-
eral lands during a drought
“more pervasive and dra-
matic than we have seen in
years,” said Kaitlynn Glover,
the association’s executive
director of resources.
“These removals are
critical for the horses as
well as the health of the
rangelands,” she said in an
email to The Associated
Press. “Even in times where
resources are plentiful,
these overpopulated herds
cause serious damage to the
landscape.”
The bureau already has
gathered 1,200 animals this
year and originally intended
to round up about 12,000.
The new effort would push
the total to about 18,000
across 10 Western states
from Montana to California.
The bureau says the esti-
mated 86,000 free-roaming
mustangs and burros on
federal lands is three times
what the ecosystem can sus-
tain, something that animal
advocates dispute.
About 1,400 that are
rounded up would be
returned to the range after
they receive contraceptive
drugs. But the total rounded
up would be more than
double the 9,181 gathered
last year.
The previous peak over
the past decade was 9,749 in
2018. Fewer than 4,100 were
gathered annually from 2013
through 2017.
Culver noted that the
land agency announced
last week that it was taking
additional steps to ensure
that captured horses made
available for public adoption
do not end up in the hands of
secondhand buyers who ship
them to slaughterhouses.
That move drew mixed
reactions from horse
advocates, who welcomed
efforts to tighten regula-
tions but said the reforms
don’t go far enough and that
horses will still end up being
slaughtered as long as the
government offers $1,000
cash incentives to adopt the
animals.
Neda DeMayo, president
of Return to Freedom Wild
Horse Conservation, said
the crisis on the range is the
result of the Bureau of Land
Management’s “failure to
implement solutions that
have been available for over
20 years,” including acceler-
ated use of fertility control
programs.
U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, a
Nevada Democrat, agreed.
“This situation further il-
lustrates that the status quo
does not work,” Titus said.
“That is why I led an effort to
provide funding in this year’s
Interior appropriations
bill for safe and humane
birth control.”
The afternoon and
evening thundershow-
ers that punctuated the
past week in Baker City
helped keep water use
lower than it has been
for much of the previ-
ously hot, dry summer.
Michelle Owen, the
city’s public works direc-
tor, is pleased with the
trend.
But with several
weeks of summer still
to come, and warmer
temperatures forecast
for much of next week,
she’s still concerned.
“While the reduced
use is helpful, it doesn’t
change my overall con-
cern for the year and for
moving into next year,”
Owen said on Thursday,
Aug. 5. “I believe these
drought conditions are
more expansive and
one cooler, rainy week is
good, but doesn’t solve
the water use concerns.”
The correlation
between weather and
water use is a predict-
able one, Owen said.
When nature sup-
plies the irrigation
water for lawns and
gardens, residents
generally use less city
water — quite a lot less,
in some cases.
During June, the city
during July about 4.8
million gallons.
Rainfall during those
two months totaled
just 0.23 of an inch at
the Baker City Airport,
more than an inch and a
half below average.
But during the first
five days of August, rain-
fall at the airport added
up to 0.47 of an inch —
twice the total for the
previous two months.
The city’s water use,
meanwhile, dropped to
a daily average of just
under 3.3 million gallons
for those five days.
That includes 2.9 mil-
lion gallons on Thursday,
Aug. 5 — the lowest
daily total since spring.
Owen said in July
that she hopes residents
will voluntarily curb
water use so the city can
avoid having to move
to phase 3 of its water
curtailment ordinance,
under which all outdoor
watering is banned.
The city has been
under phase 2 since July
12. It calls for residents
to voluntarily limit
outdoor watering to be-
tween 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.,
when evaporation rates
are lower and less water
is needed to irrigate
lawns and gardens.
COVID
requires two doses) in Febru-
ary, but she suffers from lupus,
and Chuck Brown said the
Continued from Page A1
inoculation caused a flare up
in her condition, so she did not
The next day he went to
receive a second shot.
Saint Alphonsus Medical
Neither Mary, Trinidad nor
Center in Baker City. He said
Greg was vaccinated.
he was told he had a sinus
Although Donna spent two
infection.
days in the hospital after con-
Carlos said he thought at
the time that he had con-
tracting COVID-19, she has
since recovered, something
tracted COVID-19, because
her siblings, Chuck and Hope,
his symptoms were much
more severe than he had had who’s 52, attribute to her be-
with colds.
ing partially vaccinated.
“I felt a million times worse
Greg Valentine spent about
than any cold I have ever
10 days in the Baker City
had,” he said.
hospital after he developed
Carlos returned to the
pneumonia, Hope said.
home he shared with Trini-
Chuck and Hope said they
understood that their mother
dad, Mary, Donna and Greg.
was much more vulnerable
Chuck Brown, 63, said
Donna was the next person to to the virus due to her age
— about 74% of the 2,877
get sick.
Donna and Trinidad were Oregonians who have died
taken by LifeFlight helicopter after testing positive were 70
to Saint Alphonsus Hospital in or older, and 50% were 80 or
older.
Boise on July 7, Chuck said.
But they said Mary
Trinidad tested positive
rarely left her house, and she
that day.
believed she was protected as
Mary, who tested positive
a result.
on July 8, was taken to the
“That was not the case,”
Boise hospital later in the
Chuck said.
month after spending about
Chuck, who has lived in
at week in the Baker City
Baker City since 1971, said he
hospital.
tried to shelter his mother by,
Among the five members
for instance, leaving her gro-
of the household, Carlos was
the only one fully vaccinated, ceries on her back door rather
Chuck Brown said.
than entering her home after
Donna had her first dose of doing her shopping.
the Moderna vaccine (which
He said he felt more
confident after getting both
doses of the Moderna vaccine
in March.
Hope, who lives in Indiana,
was fully vaccinated in April,
receiving two doses of the
Moderna vaccine. She said
she decided to get vaccinated
despite having contracted
COVID-19 twice, once in Sep-
tember 2020 in Indiana and
again this March in Texas.
She traveled to Baker City in
early July to help Chuck care
for their mother and their
other relatives.
Both credit their vaccina-
tion with protecting them
from COVID-19 while they
were spending time in a
household where five people
had been infected.
“I was with them every day
trying to take care of them,”
Chuck said.
Hope said both she and
Chuck wore masks while car-
ing for their mother and other
relatives, even though both
siblings are vaccinated and, in
Hope’s case, she has antibod-
ies from being infected.
Hope said she wishes more
people who are eligible to be
vaccinated — vaccines aren’t
yet approved for children
younger than 12 — will get
the shots.
“Look what happened
— we lost two people in one
household,” she said. “And it
could have been even worse.”
FIRES
six miles northwest of Wal-
lowa as of Friday morning,
Aug. 6.
The biggest blaze in the
region is the Black Butte
fire on the Malheur Na-
tional Forest south of Unity.
It had burned 7,645 acres as
of Friday morning.
Peterson credits coopera-
tion among the Department
of Forestry, Forest Service,
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment, local rural fire protec-
tion districts, and private
contractors with keeping
new fires small in Baker
County.
She emphasized that
although the rain and cooler
temperatures late this week
gave firefighters an assist,
the fire danger remains
extreme.
“This is not the end of
fire season,” Peterson said.
“We’re still in restrictions,
with no burning or
campfires.”
“We’ve taken a ton of
lightning, but we also got
some pretty good moisture,”
Continued from Page A1
McCraw said.
He said local agencies are
Peterson said she thinks
it’s likely that some of those equipped to handle initial
“sleeper” fires will show up attack on relatively small
fires.
over the next several days,
The challenge, McCraw
as hotter, drier weather is
said, would be if a larger
forecast for much of next
blaze gets going, requiring
week.
a management team and
Fire managers will be
taking daily airplane flights large numbers of ground
over the region to check for and aerial resources.
“Across the region and
new blazes, she said.
They will pay particular nation those resources are
pretty scarce right now,” he
attention to places where
fire crews didn’t find blazes said.
The biggest fire reported
that had been reported,
in Baker County burned
Peterson said. There were
several of those in the region just two acres, on private
land near Gimlet Creek and
this week.
Whitney Valley, about five
Joel McCraw, fire
management officer for the miles southwest of Sumpter.
Peterson said copious
Wallowa-Whitman National
lightning started several
Forest’s Whitman Ranger
District, agreed with Peter- fires in Wallowa County, in-
cluding the Wise fire, which
son about the likelihood of
had burned about 130 acres
sleeper fires.