May 20, 2016 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A
Fir Street Bridge to get rehabilitated
Bridge will be more
likely to survive
earthquake
By Lyra Fontaine
Cannon Beach Gazette
During a tsunami or earthquake, the
Fir Street Bridge that connects downtown
to the city’s north end is likely to collapse.
City oicials want to make it safer.
The bridge will undergo repairs and seis-
mic rehabilitation this fall to increase its
survivability in the event of a moderate
earthquake.
“What this will do is improve the
bridge’s odds of surviving a moderate
earthquake in that it would still be func-
tional after that,” Public Works Director
Dan Grassick said.
The City Council approved a resolu-
tion to adopt a supplemental budget for
the bridge’s rehabilitation at a meeting
last week.
The cost for Oregon Bridge Engineer-
ing Consultants to create a design, plans
and speciications is $26,500, funds ex-
isting in this year’s bridge repair and re-
placement fund. The construction cost of
up to $150,000 is in the proposed budget
for next iscal year.
R.J. MARX/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
he Fir Street bridge will undergo re-
construction.
“What the engineers will do is in-
crease the width of the bearing pads of
each of the spans and do some other im-
provements,” Grassick said. “There are
a couple of cross ties that have corroded
and we’ll ix all of those.”
Oregon Bridge Engineering Consul-
tants will complete design work by July,
and the construction would be completed
by October.
“The vehicle bridge has got some
maintenance issues so while we’re doing
those, we thought we might as well have
the design engineers increase its surviv-
ability,” Grassick said.
City plans still include constructing a
“tsunami survivable” pedestrian bridge
near the Fir Street Bridge to make it eas-
ier for residents and tourists to vacate
the downtown area within the 15-minute
evacuation time frame.
The construction of the pedestrian
bridge depends on whether the city is
awarded a $1.8 million Connect Oregon
grant, which the city would match with
$500,000. If received, the grant would be
awarded this fall.
“The reason why this is critical and
that council is acting on this grant is that
it was estimated by Professor (Althea)
Rizzo that this would save between 500
and 1,500 lives in a tsunami event,” City
Manager Brant Kucera said at a budget
committee meeting last week. “That area
takes a very long time to get out of that
downtown area to higher ground and not
having access to that bridge is one reason
why.”
The pedestrian bridge project, which
would cost $1.7 million, will only move
forward if the city receives the state
grant, Kucera said.
City Council voted to pursue a Con-
nect Oregon grant to help build a Pe-
destrian bridge over Ecola Creek in No-
vember.
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE/SUBMITTED PHOTO
Tsunami map of Cannon Beach.
New Fire Chief Benedict to start June 1
Fire Chief from Page 1A
“The department seems to
have a lot of potential,” Bene-
dict said. “I want to help them
get to that point to bring out
all the potential to make us
one of the premier agencies
on the North Coast.”’
Benedict was chosen out of
20 applicants from across the
country. He emerged as one of
three inalists after interviews
from an area ire chiefs’ panel
and a Cannon Beach citizen
panel. The board selected
Benedict at the end of April.
Benedict began his career
in 1994 as ireighter para-
medic for the Pendleton Fire
District. He was promoted to
lieutenant paramedic, cap-
tain paramedic, then assistant
chief and ire marshal in 2014.
For six years, he was also
chief of Helix ire district.
“We’re really excited to
have Matt here,” Stearns said.
“He brings professionalism
and a drive in the ire service
that I think will be very bene-
icial to the community.”
Benedict started in Pendle-
ton when Stearns was Herm-
iston’s ire chief.
“I’ve had the beneit of
knowing Matt since he start-
ed in the ire service,” Stearns
said. “I was in a neighboring
LYRA FONTAINE/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Chief Matt Benedict famil-
iarizes himself with the lad-
der truck.
agency and got to watch Matt
come up through the ranks
pretty quickly within the or-
ganization.”
Born and raised in Port-
land, Benedict said he is ex-
cited to live on the northern
Oregon coast, where he va-
cationed as a child. He also
looks forward to being closer
to family in Portland.
“The people I’ve met down
here have been very friendly
and have so far welcomed me
to the community,” he said.
After selling their He-
lix home, Benedict and wife
Amanda, an emergency room
nurse, will rent or buy in the
102.3 KCRX &
KAST-AM 1370
Cannon Beach area. They
have four children who will
visit often.
“I looked up to ireighting
my whole life when I was a
little kid,” Benedict said. “I
fulilled my dream.”
Benedict said he brings
“education, experience and
knowledge” to guide the
core group of ireighters and
strengthen the ire district.
He has dealt with many
challenging ireighting situ-
ations.
Last summer, an explo-
sion and ire in downtown
Pendleton destroyed part of a
building. Benedict and other
ireighters prevented the ire
from spreading past the for-
mer City Hall building.
In 2012, a tour bus crash
into a ravine near Pendleton led
to multiple fatalities and inju-
ries. Numerous agencies from
surrounding counties worked
with Pendleton Fire District
during the situation, using an
incident command system.
Benedict looks forward to
working with agencies near
Cannon Beach.
“In Pendleton, your neigh-
boring agencies are a half
hour away,” he said. “Here we
have Seaside, so it’s going to
be a good working relation-
ship.”
Cannon Beach ire district
has 25 ireighters and are “al-
ways looking for more,” Stea-
rns said. There are also six
members of Fire Corps, made
up of retired ireighters.
“I took a look at the orga-
nization and how it was oper-
ating and helped them decide
who would be the best it for
the organization,” said Stea-
rns, interim chief since De-
cember. “I think Matt is going
to be excellent.”
After his time in Cannon
Beach ends, Stearns will vis-
it his grandchildren, return to
Hermiston and see where life
takes him. He may take anoth-
er interim chief position.
“I don’t think I’m done
yet,” Stearns said.
At the May 9 meeting,
resident Eric Reiter thanked
Stearns for his work.
Benedict will be at the next
ire board meeting June 13.
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Do you know where to go?
Learn the way to safety
By Lyra Fontaine
Cannon Beach Gazette
When the ground begins
to shake on the north end
of Cannon Beach, will you
know where to go? The Cas-
cadia subduction zone earth-
quake could create a tsunami
that will reach the Oregon
coast within 15 to 20 min-
utes, according to the state.
The ifth annual evacua-
tion route practice walk on
Saturday, May 28, offers
an opportunity for both res-
idents and tourists to learn
how to get to the tsunami
safe zone.
The walk should take 15
to 20 minutes, volunteer tsu-
nami walk coordinator Jeneé
Pearce-Mushen said.
“We want to make sure
people understand and start
doing the walk on our own,”
she said.
Participants will gather
at 10 a.m. at the Les Shirley
Park bus stop and will walk
the Oak Street route to Eighth
Street. The new “safe area”
on Laurel Street north of Fifth
Street will be discussed. An
open house will take place
at 11 a.m. on Eighth and Oak
Street. At 12:30 p.m., partici-
pants can meet at Les Shirley
Park to discuss potential im-
provements.
People are “going to be
distressed and need help”
when a tsunami comes, and
those who know the route
will be able to assist others,
Pearce-Mushen said.
The walk is open for any-
one in the county and tour-
ists. People can bring their
go-bags, pets and anything
else they need to be prepared.
“If we have a Cascadia
earthquake, we’ll know where
to go,” Pearce-Mushen said.
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