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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2015)
A8 Blue Mountain Eagle Wildfires Wednesday, August 19, 2015 FIRE Continued from Page A1 “The community cares about the community, and that’s the bottom line,” she said. “It’s a beautiful commu- nity.” Lost everything Ron White said he was working, and unaware of the VLWXDWLRQWKHGD\WKH¿UHZHQW out of control. He was living at a friend’s house at Cougar Crossing in the canyon. After delivering packages in Dayville for the company he works for, he headed home for the day. “I was told that the Berry Creek Fire was under control and wasn’t concerned about it,” he said. “I came around the corner from work outside Day- ville, and that’s when I saw it (the big plume of smoke).” He said he was stopped at a road closure in Canyon City near the Golden Dragon Restaurant. “All I got was what I had in my work truck,” he said, add- ing that he lost guns and other EHORQJLQJVLQWKH¿UH He said that his company is taking good care of him for the time being. Malheur National Forest Supervisor Steve Beverlin said VRPH RI WKH ¿UH¿JKWHUV WKHLU friends and neighbors also lost homes. “That hits home, and that’s GLI¿FXOW´ KH VDLG ³2XU IRONV are doing everything they can to get that mountain under con- trol.” Can’t do it alone He added, “We can’t do it alone, we need the help of ev- eryone. Grant County is a resil- ient county and will come out Courtesy of inciweb.nwcg.gov A crew works along a road on the west side of the Canyon Creek Complex fire near Canyon City, Aug. 18. URRPWKDWLVZRUWKD¿UH¿JKW- er’s life,” he added. Wind picks up Had the circumstances hap- pened on any other day, things may have gone differently, he said. The Eagle/Angel Carpenter “The Berry Creek Fire was Visiting after the community fire meeting are volunteer firefighter Carl Metler, left, Canyon City property owner James Dunn, John Day Fire Chief Ron Smith and volunteer pretty much close to being a done deal — contained,” he firefighter Ronda Metler. said. Perfect storm The Mason Springs was act- the other side — they always VLELOLW\IRUWKH¿UH do.” “In my opinion one struc- John Day Fire Chief Ron ing up Thursday night, but later Fire behavior analyst Tobin ture lost is one too many, but Smith related the Aug. 14 calmed a little, he said. “It looked like we had a pret- Kelley said temperatures in the they did a great job of protect- event to the movie “The Per- area would be hotter this week, ing a large number of structures fect Storm” where a small ty good handle on it, and then but lighter wind speeds would that day (Aug. 14),” he said. ¿VKLQJ ERDW IDFHV D IRRW the inversion came through, the cold front,” he said. “We had a NHHSWKH¿UHEHKDYLRUTXLHWHU 2YHUHQJLQHVZLWKFDUHHU wave. “We might see an increase ¿UH¿JKWHUVIURPWKURXJKRXWWKH The wind event that came big wind, and that’s what sort of LQ ¿UHV EHLQJ HVWDEOLVKHG DW state have arrived from areas in- down through the canyon blew everything up and sent it a bottom of a drainage or the cluding Hood River, Portland, “created a perfect storm, and down the canyon.” “Think about trying to run 40 bottom of a slope ... but with- Toledo, Bend and elsewhere. WKH¿UHZRQWKLVRQH´KHVDLG out the really strong wind, it’s “Those are communities that He said the Berry Creek or 50 miles an hour — you can’t not going to want to push it,” see your community as import- DQG 0DVRQ 6SULQJV ¿UHV ² NHHS DKHDG RI D ¿UH OLNH WKDW´ he said. ant,” he said. which became the Canyon he said. “We had brands, the Jeff Surber, operations sec- “They’re here and will be Creek Complex — were un- KRWVSRWVWKDWWKH¿UHSLFNVXS tion chief, said there are en- here as long as they’re needed derstaffed from the beginning and blows, they were dropping gines, hand crews, air tankers, to do the best job that we can for the amount of terrain in- those things anywhere from a half-mile to a mile ahead of the helicopters and two Type 1 hot- possibly do in protecting the in- volved. shot crews at work. frastructure of your community 7HQ ORFDO YROXQWHHU ¿UH- ¿UHVRZLWKOLPLWHGUHVRXUFHV “They’re building a line and as well as your homes,” he said. ¿JKWHUV ZHUH ¿JKWLQJ WKH ¿UH you do what you can do, and making sure that gets secure up Grant County Sheriff Glenn along with U.S. Forest Service that’s all that you can do.” there,” he said. Palmer described the Canyon crews, which were also limited Be a volunteer He said crews are working Creek area as “an apocalypse.” GXHWRRWKHU¿UHV at Whiskey Gulch and Pine He said, “It actually looks “These folks stayed as long He welcomed residents to Creek to create a buffer be- like a nuclear bomb went off up as they possibly could, trying consider signing up to be a vol- WZHHQKRXVHVDQGWKH¿UHFRP- in this canyon.” to protect exposures until it XQWHHU¿UH¿JKWHUIRUDQ\RIWKH ing down the hill. When the roads open up — got so unbearable, then for the FLW\ ¿UH GHSDUWPHQWV LQ *UDQW which wasn’t expected for a sake of safety they were told to County. Protecting structures few more days — Palmer said back out, come back down,” ³7KHVH ¿UH¿JKWHUV ZHQW way above and beyond, and it Red Team Incident Com- he would like people to be re- he said. “There is nothing here that just didn’t turn out good,” he mander Jim Walker, who is the spectful of private property, for 2UHJRQ6WDWH)LUH0DUVKDOVDLG drivers to be safety-minded and we have that you can put in a said. suitcase or watch in your front The meeting closed with a his team has structural respon- IRUFDXWLRQWREHXVHGZLWK¿UH TXHVWLRQDQGDQVZHUVHVVLRQ 7KHUH ZHUH TXHULHV DERXW when roads would be open and about power to the county. 2QHPDQDVNHGDERXWWKH¿UH lines. $Q RI¿FLDO VDLG WKHUH DUH PLOHVDQGPLOHVRI¿UHOLQHDQG still not enough people to watch them. +HVDLGSODQHVÀ\RYHUKHDG and people call in what they see. Another person asked if there is any containment of the ¿UH $Q RI¿FLDO VDLG WKH ¿UH LV only 5 to 10 percent contained because of natural barriers and added containment would mean they don’t have to con- VWDQWO\ ZDWFK WKH ¿UH +H VDLG once it’s pulled in 100 feet, then it’s somewhat contained, and this will happen as more crews ¿JKWWKH¿UH Steve Dunn had a sugges- tion for the audience. “I grew up here, I love this county,” he said. “Your forest supervisor said it best — he said they can’t do it alone.” He said the community could come together to volun- WHHUZLWKWKH¿UHFKLHI “Here’s my suggestion so that it doesn’t happen again: Get together, create a volunteer ZLOGODQG ¿UH WHDP XQGHU WKH direction of the chief, and you want to work in partnership with these people,” he said. “Thank them — they’ve done a great job — but do it. These are your forests, you live here, you protect them.” Church Services In Grant County