Local
A2
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Baker City Herald • bakercityherald.com
TURNING BACK THE PAGES
50 YEARS AGO
from the Democrat-Herald
October 24, 1972
Baker could have a YMCA program by April 1, if estimated
fi rst year costs of $30,000 can be raised.
That’s the consensus of the Chamber of Commerce
Youth Committee after three days of meetings with William
Thiess, general manager of the Central Lane Family YMCA in
Eugene.
25 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
October 24, 1997
The 1997 CropWalk for World Hunger had a great turnout
with 146 walkers from 10 organizations and churches on Oct.
19.
Representatives from the Seventh-Day Adventist, Presby-
terian, Lutheran, Nazarene, Christian, Methodist, Episcopal
and Catholic churches were active as well as the Baker 5J
Wellness team and the Baker High School Earth Club.
10 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
October 24, 2012
Baker had a little more trouble disposing of Ontario
Tuesday than it should have in the Greater Oregon League
volleyball fi nale for both teams.
The Bulldogs won the match 22-25, 25-18, 25-15, 31-29
on the Baker fl oor.
“We stuck with it pretty well,” said Baker coach Michele
McCauley. “I was impressed with the way we stuck with it.”
ONE YEAR AGO
from the Baker City Herald
October 26, 2021
Crews from Baker and Union counties rescued a Baker
County man in the snowbound Wallowa Mountains north of
Halfway Monday, Oct. 25, the day after he was stranded by a
blizzard while packing in supplies with horses for an elk-hunt-
ing trip. Robert Derald Borders, 67, who lives near Baker City,
did not need medical treatment, Baker County Sheriff Travis
Ash said in a cellphone interview Monday afternoon.
Borders, who had four horses, was able to use his satellite
device, which works even when cell service is limited or nonex-
istent, as is the case in that remote part of the county, to send
a text message to a friend late Sunday morning, said Ashley
McClay, the sheriff’s offi ce’s public information offi cer.
The friend then called the Baker County Dispatch Center
around noon Sunday.
The text message also included Borders’ precise location,
which aided rescuers, McClay said.
Around 2:30 p.m. on Monday, McClay said rescuers had
reached Borders, who had sent text messages to rescuers
with his satellite device while they were en route.
Although Borders’ use of the device was a signifi cant help
to rescuers, the weather, especially on Sunday, was a major
hindrance.
A group of Baker County Search and Rescue team mem-
bers, summoned Sunday afternoon by Ash, started traveling
to the location, which is in the Eagle Cap Wilderness several
miles north of Cornucopia, in the Soldier Lake and Sugarloaf
Mountain area.
McClay said rain was falling, snow was on the ground and
powerful winds were toppling trees as rescuers traveled higher
into the mountains.
They eventually had to retreat late in the evening on Sunday,
McClay said.
On Monday morning, Baker County crews were joined by
search and rescue members from Union County to resume
the effort, McClay said. The Union County team members
arrived at the Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce around 5 a.m.,
traveling from there to the mountains.
The sheriff’s offi ce had few other details Monday afternoon.
McClay said Borders apparently had left from the Cornucopia
trailhead on Saturday, Oct. 23.
The weather deteriorated on Sunday, and according to the
text message the man sent to his friend, he was unable to get
back to the trailhead and needed help.
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SENIOR MENUS
WEDNESDAY (Oct. 26): Meatloaf, au gratin potatoes, corn,
rolls, coleslaw, ice cream
THURSDAY (Oct. 27): Chicken cordon bleu, rice, broccoli,
rolls, macaroni salad, lemon squares
FRIDAY (Oct. 28): Beef stroganoff over fettuccine noodles,
carrots, rolls, apple crisp
MONDAY (Oct. 31): Sweet and sour chicken, rice, peas,
rolls, green salad, pudding
Public luncheon at the Senior Center, 2810 Cedar St., from
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; $5 donation (60 and older),
$7.50 for those under 60.
CONTACT THE HERALD
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Open Monday through Friday
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Telephone: 541-523-3673
ISSN-8756-6419
Serving Baker County since 1870
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(P.O. Box 807), Baker City, OR 97814.
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Copyright © 2022
Tony Chiotti/Blue Mountain Eagle
Firefighters tend the line on a prescribed burn in the Malheur National Forest on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. The fire was executed under strict
new Forest Service rules, yet managed to briefly escape containment lines later that afternoon.
Forest Service employee’s arrest
after fire jumps line sparks debate
BY TONY CHIOTTI
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — When Rick
Snodgrass approached Grant
County Sheriff Todd McKin-
ley on the county road, he
thought the sheriff was there
to help him.
According to Snodgrass,
he’d called for law enforce-
ment to help control traffic
and deal with harassment
his crews had been receiving
while implementing a pre-
scribed burn on the Malheur
National Forest.
But instead of getting assis-
tance, he got arrested.
When the sheriff cuffed
Snodgrass, it is thought to
be the first time a U.S. Forest
Service firefighter has been
arrested in the course of per-
forming their job.
The fire had jumped con-
tainment lines and had
burned an estimated 20 to 40
acres of private land owned
by members of the Holliday
family.
Snodgrass, the “burn boss”
on the day’s operation, was
charged with reckless burning,
a Class A misdemeanor that
carries a maximum penalty of
a year in jail and a $6,250 fine.
The arrest of Snodgrass has
drawn national attention and
has fanned the debate over
Forest Service fire mitigation
policies, especially as it per-
tains to intentional burns ad-
jacent to private lands.
“Every individual has a
different opinion and moti-
vation,” said Craig Trulock,
supervisor of the 1.7 mil-
lion-acre Malheur National
Forest.
“You have people that are
just anti-federal and don’t
want any federal agency do-
ing anything that could affect
their lands.
Others don’t like prescribed
burning for various reasons,
whether it’s risk or a sense
News of
Record
DEATHS
Charlene Immoos: 82, of Richland,
died Oct. 23, 2022, at her home with her
family by her side. Arrangements are
under the direction of Tami’s Pine Valley
Funeral Home & Cremation Services.
Online condolences can be shared at
www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com.
Kenneth “Darwin” Potter: 84, of Baker
City, died Oct. 23, 2022, at his home. A
memorial service will take place later,
the date and time to be announced as
soon as details are confirmed. To leave
an online condolence for the family of
Darwin, go to www.grayswestco.com.
that it doesn’t achieve what we
should be doing out there be-
cause they want every log to
go on a log truck. And then
you have people that are say-
ing, ‘When you burn, would
you please burn my property
as well?’”
According to Trulock, the
burn was going to plan. “We
were within prescription on
the burn,” Trulock said, noting
he couldn’t say much more as
the incident is now the subject
of an active federal and local
investigation.
The fire was the second day
of prescribed burning in as
many weeks. The burn area
planned for Wednesday, Oct.
19, was 300 acres, including
trees and meadowland within
the Malheur National Forest
in an operation involving fed-
eral, state and contract fire-
fighting crews, according to
information from the Forest
Service.
This was among the first
prescribed burns to be allowed
after a new set of restrictions
came into effect this year, fol-
lowing high-profile cases of
prescribed burns getting out
of control on federal land and
causing massive damage, in-
cluding this year’s Calf Can-
yon/Hermit’s Peak blaze in
New Mexico, which burned
several hundred thousand
acres and hundreds of struc-
tures this spring. After a 90-
day pause on all prescribed
burns, a revised set of restric-
tions was published.
As part of those new rules,
before ignitions could begin
in Bear Valley, a go/no-go
checklist had to be completed
on site.
The burn plan takes the
form of a 100-plus page doc-
ument, updated year over
year as the preparatory steps
of thinning, fuel removal and
tree grinding continued, all to
get the area into ideal shape
for a burn.
As part of the new rules, the
final ignition authorization
had to be signed by four peo-
ple: the agency administrator,
local unit line officer, burn
boss and fire management of-
ficer or duty officer. This pro-
cess only authorizes ignitions
for 24 hours, in effect giving
all four officers veto power
over the burn based on that
day’s conditions.
On this day, all four signa-
tures were affixed to the burn
authorization and ignitions
could begin. One of those four
signatures belonged to Rick
Snodgrass.
Smoldering tensions
The ignition was delayed
for about 45 minutes while
crews did a grid search to en-
sure there were no cows in
the burn area after hearing
reports that the Hollidays still
had some “stragglers” left on
national forest land, a com-
mon occurrence as cows are
seasonally moved off grazing
allotments.
The Windy Point Ranch al-
lotment specified an Oct. 15
“off date,” but Chad Holliday
explained that some fence that
was burned the previous week,
along with gates being left
open by fire personnel, meant
he couldn’t be sure the cattle
were all out.
Initially, the burn went ac-
cording to plan, with light
winds of 1-3 mph and the
heat of the fire drawing smoke
up into a clean, bent column
over the county road. The fire
moved slowly across 50 acres
over the course of five hours,
with fire crews monitoring the
progress of its leading front
and continuing drip-torch ig-
nitions.
Ignitions paused in the af-
ternoon, to begin again a cou-
ple hours later. It was then that
the wind picked up and a few
trees in the interior of the al-
ready-burned area torched,
sending up “duffers” with the
smoke, up and over the road.
Members of the Holliday
family who own the Windy
Point Ranch and other land
adjacent to the burn area were
standing across the county
road from the fire as an ember
from the burn area touched
town on their ranch, starting
a new fire that soon began to
spread.
“We were glad to see Or-
egon Department of For-
estry and Grayback (contract
crews) show up,” said Mandy
Taylor, Chad Holliday’s sister.
ODF and Grayback For-
estry crews were contracted to
work alongside Forest Service
employees throughout the
day’s burn, but due to tensions
between the landowners and
the federal crews, they were
eventually asked to take over
mop-up after the flames of the
spot fire were extinguished,
according to Trulock, who
said the move was meant to
calm tensions on the scene.
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FUNERALS PENDING
Clay Gyllenberg: Memorial service
will be Saturday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. at
the Baker City Church of the Nazarene,
1250 Hughes Lane. Friends are invited
to join the family for a potluck reception
immediately following the service
at the Nazarene Church’s Family Life
Center, adjacent to the church. Online
condolences can be shared at www.
tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com.
Gerald Omer Maxwell: Graveside
memorial service with military honors
on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. at the
Haines Cemetery, with Sally Wiens
officiating the service. Memorial
contributions can be made to the
Anthony Lakes Ski Patrol or to the
United Methodist Church through Gray’s
West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey
Ave., Baker City, OR 97814.
Travis T. Hampton, D.P.M.
Foot and Ankle Surgeon
541-963-0265
888-843-9090
www.GVfoot.com
La Grande
1408 N Hall Street
Enterprise
601 Medical Parkway
Baker
3175 Pocahontas Rd.