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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2015)
W EDNESDAY , S EPTEMBER 2, 2015 • N O . 35 • 20 P AGES • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com Saving Prairie City THE FIGHT TO RESCUE A TOWN FROM WILDFIRE Contributed photo by Audra Clark As flames approaches the hills behind Prairie City, buildings in town glow in the fiery light. The Trial by fire Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 Blue Mountain EAGLE ‘You could feel the heat of the fire and smell the smoke’ By Sean Ellis and Nancy McCarthy Blue Mountain Eagle A Between day and night: The ¿ re neYer stRSs generally around 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., though shifts can be extended based RQ¿UHEHKDYLRU “It’s a nice, smooth transition, as the incoming folks communicate all the intelligence on what’s been done By Sean Ellis and where the hazards are and pro- Blue Mountain Eagle vide a situational awareness update to the outgoing folks,” said John JOHN DAY — Shift change is a Kennedy, an operations section chief FULWLFDOWLPHIRU¿UH¿JKWHUVFRPEDW KHOSLQJ GLUHFW HIIRUWV WR ¿JKW WKH LQJWKH&DQ\RQ&UHHN&RPSOH[¿UH &DQ\RQ&UHHN&RPSOH[¿UH ,W¶VZKHQYLWDOLQIRUPDWLRQRQ¿UH 7KHUH¶V D VLJQL¿FDQW DQG YLVLEOH behavior, trouble spots and weather contrast in energy levels between conditions is transferred between day those returning from the front lines and night shifts. See SHIFT, Page A5 Shift change happens twice a day, A change in shift for firefighters is also a change in mood Dusty Harris spends time at the Red Cross shelter set up in Mt. Vernon following the evacuation of portions of Prairie City. fter watching a raging wild- fire consume their neighbors’ properties to the south and west of them for two weeks, Prairie City residents experienced their own trial by fire last weekend. It took only a switch in wind direction for the HOUR fire to turn onto the ridge above the town, the BY just flames so brilliant against HOUR the night sky that the buildings below glowed in the fiery light. Streets filled with smoke. Ear- ly-morning sirens scared residents out of bed. Half the town received orders to evacuate immediately; the other half was told to prepare for evacuation any minute. In the smoky haze, headlights ap- peared as a convoy of trucks and cars, filled with prized possessions and ran- Eagle photos/Sean Ellis A convoy of vehicles heads out of Prairie City on a smoke- filled Saturday, after officials tell residents to evacuate immediately. dom household goods quickly thrown into trunks, began moving west, down the highway. Meanwhile, hundreds of firefighters headed east toward the fire. 7KH¿JKWWRVDYH3UDLULH&LW\ZDVRQ Here is that story, hour by hour: See EVAC, Page A6 Contributed photo/Jim Soupir A change in the weather Sunday afternoon reveals the blackened hillsides of the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness in this panoramic overlooking the southern section of Prairie City form the east edge of town. Buses, trucks bring donations from Sandy Donated supplies come from 19 western Oregon cities By Sean Ellis Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY — A nine-vehi- cle convoy from Sandy dropped off thousands of pounds of do- nations Saturday for firefighters and community members affect- ed by the Canyon Creek Complex fire. The convoy, which included four school buses stocked with basic supplies and goodies, also dropped off eight tons of hay for animals im- pacted by the fire. The donations were unloaded at the Canyon Creek Complex fire incident base on the Grant County Fairgrounds. The Eagle/Sean Ellis Sandy residents pose for a group photo Saturday with firefighters assigned to the Canyon Creek Complex fire. A nine- vehicle convoy from Sandy dropped off thousands of pounds of donations from 19 cities in western Oregon. Fire officials learned about the convoy and its donations “when they showed up at the back gate,” said Stacy Weems, Great Basin In- cident Management Team public information officer. “Someone came in and said, ‘We have four buses full of supplies for WKH ¿UH¿JKWHUV DQG WKH FRPPXQLW\ where can we unload them?’” she said. Sandy resident Pamela Botts started organizing the donation drive last Thursday and enlisted the com- munity’s help. She was assisted by her co-workers with First Student, a private school bus contracting com- pany. $IWHU OHDUQLQJ DERXW WKH ¿UHV burning in this area, “We decided we needed to help the eastern side of Or- egon,” she said. “We want to show them we love them. We just want to show them we care on the west side.” Nineteen cities donated items, in- cluding clothing, socks, towels, lip balm, sports drinks, snacks, energy drinks, foot powder, multiple food items and 4,000 pounds of snack crackers. See SANDY, Page A8