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January 12, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A A RETURN FROM CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES Camaraderie made deployment special By Brenna Visser Cannon Beach Gazette When Tanner Rich joined the Gearhart Volunteer Fire Department as a part of his Pacifica Project senior year of high school, he never expected he would help fight the largest fire in California history. Rich, 19, a Seaside native, was de- ployed to the Thomas Fire in Ventu- ra County, which burned 440 square miles and destroyed more than 1,000 structures. His previous experience consisted of structure fires, medical calls and helping with the occasional car wreck. So naturally, he was filled with equal parts uncertainty and excitement. “It was pure shock. Wow — I’ve never seen something like that be- fore. I grew up in Seaside,” Rich said. “Taking in all the burnt houses, seeing people coming back to find their hous- es was a very somber moment.” Rich was one of the dozen firefight- ers sent from Clatsop County to fight a variety of fires blazing in Southern California earlier this month. The majority of the task force’s time was spent at the Thomas Fire, which has burned more than 280,000 acres and killed one California firefighter. Fire Chief Ron Tyson of the Ol- ney Walluski Fire & Rescue District, Amy Lenz, Dallas Ritchie and Justin Perdew of the Knappa Fire District, Brandin Smith and Flint Helligso of the Lewis & Clark Fire Department, Tanner Rich and Angels Perez of the Gearhart Volunteer Fire Department, Chris Dugan, Lt. Genesee Dennis and firefighter Katie Bulletset of the Sea- side Fire Department, and Cannon Beach Fire Chief Matt Benedict all returned home safely Dec. 20 in time for Christmas. This is the third time Clatsop County firefighters have been sent this year to combat blazes outside of their jurisdiction — an anomaly for the re- gion. The next most active summer GEARHART VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT Above, A dozen firefighters from Clatsop County were sent to Ventura County, California to fight growing wildfires. Left, Firefighters work to put out a blaze burning homes early Dec. 5 in Ventura, California. Authorities said the fire grew wildly after breaking out, consuming vegetation that hasn’t burned in decades. RYAN CULLOM/VENTURA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT VIA AP was in 2015. Personnel were sent out only sparingly before then. “If we’re getting called out all the way out here, I thought, how bad is it down there?” Rich said. “But I was excited to have an opportunity to help.” ‘We were all one’ While on the scene, Clatsop Coun- ty firefighters were tasked with pro- tecting homes, putting out hot spots and building fire lines to prevent the inferno from swallowing some of the ritziest neighborhoods near Los Ange- les. Crew members trimmed back fo- liage and set sprinklers around houses to beat back growing flames. Olney Fire Chief Tyson has been in the business of battling blazes in Oregon since 1986, and has seen a number of wildland fire deploy- ments. But firefighting in Southern California, where rain hasn’t fallen since last February, brought unique challenges. “When we went to Sisters, you could tell they built homes with fire safety in mind. They had backup en- ergy in case the power went out to run the sprinklers, they didn’t have stuff growing up by the house,” Ty- son said. “But (in California), the yards are full of dry brush litter for mulch, and plants were growing right up by the house. It made our jobs harder, for sure.” What also made this deployment special was the camaraderie of the group, Tyson said. The crew worked 24-hour shifts, judiciously monitor- ing perimeters and putting out hot spots before they evolved into flames. The days were long and tiring, with members taking turns napping in the fire engines. The news of a California firefighter losing his life in the same fire they were fighting dampened ev- eryone’s spirit. But the bond they formed was in- valuable to get through. “If you are going to get deployed with anyone, this is the group to get. We had so much fun, but we took it real serious, too,” he said. Gearhart volunteer Garcia said the bond crews build is one of her favorite aspects of being deployed on larger fires. “People were encouraging each other, taking care of each other. What I love is that we were all one — not just firefighters from Gearhart, Sea- side, Lewis and Clark, et cetera. Those hardworking days and nights, because of the attitude, didn’t seem as hard.” Feeling the gratitude Garcia started firefighting five years ago at Columbia River Fire De- partment, and just this year served on three task forces to different Oregon and California fires. “I just wanted to be apart of some- thing and make a difference. That’s how I started,” Garcia said. But what has kept her going five years later — even with the long, cold nights of patrol and the feeling of missing her four children back at home — is the feeling the gratitude of the people she protects, she said. “It’s hard to put it into words. It’s different than on TV,” Garcia said. “You feel the heat of the flames, you feel the worry of these people, but you also feel the gratitude.” Signs championing firefighters and encouraging messages from locals and family were some ways they felt that gratitude, said Dugan, Seaside’s fire division chief. But one homeowner, still dili- gently moving his sprinkler around his property day in and day out after everyone had evacuated, stood out. “He said he was a blue-collar guy, not like the rest of the multimil- lion-dollar homes that were around him. He was an electrician with a small avocado grove behind their house, and we were assigned to pro- tecting his home,” Dugan said. “He told us this is all he had — he spent his whole life getting it. He was so grateful when we told him we were going to give him a break from pro- tecting it.” Piece of the puzzle In the abstract, knowing he was fighting a fire that easily could be the equivalent of the distance to Astoria from Seaside was daunting, Dugan said. But in the day-to-day tedium of tasks, sometimes that awe is lost in translation. “I was talking to someone on the crew who felt like in the mid- dle of it we weren’t doing a whole lot. We weren’t on the front lines,” Dugan said. “But the Thomas fire is a 10,000-piece puzzle. Maybe we were just one piece, a blue sky piece, but without it the whole puz- zle doesn’t work. That’s what we did.” There’s a lot to learn from this year’s deployments, both Dugan and Tyson said. While local depart- ments hold semi-regular wildland fire trainings, experiences like this can only prepare local forces better for events in their own backyard. “Most of these areas hadn’t seen fires for 80, 100 years,” Tyson said. “The lesson is don’t get complacent just because we haven’t had a fire like this. Because they hadn’t ei- ther.” Adding more firefighters ‘is smart’ Boone to retire Boone from Page 1A Levy from Page 1A Last year, the fire district applied for two Federal Emer- gency Management Agency grants to fill the two firefighter paramedic positions, but did not receive the award due to reporting errors made by pre- vious administrations. While the district plans to apply for the two grants again, funding the positions through a levy would be more reliable, Ben- edict said. “With the grant process we cannot rely on the funding in the future,” he said. “The levy would be more permanent as it would be for five years and hopefully supported by the voters to continue in the fu- ture.” If the board approves, one firefighter position would also be in charge of recruitment and retention, while the other would take on fire inspections. “We can survive right now, but with more and more tour- ists coming in, we need more extra personnel,” Benedict said. A different kind of call Part of what is driving the need, Benedict said, is the growing number of medical calls. The fire chief estimates 80 percent of the 380 calls Cannon Beach Fire and Res- cue responds to each year are medical. The majority of emergency service calls come from north Clatsop County, so in Cannon Beach it is not uncommon for an ambulance to take 15 to 40 minutes to arrive, Benedict said. In one case, he recalls waiting 45 minutes before an COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP Cannon Beach Fire Chief Matt Benedict makes the rounds of the garage doing routine maintenance and checking gear. ambulance could treat some- one with dangerously low blood pressure. Medix Operational Manag- er Duane Mullins said there is always at least one ambulance stationed in Seaside and As- toria. While he considers re- sponse times over 10 minutes to be the minority, the reality is the farther calls are from those nodes the longer the re- sponse time. “Someone living in Elsie is not going to get the same re- sponse than someone in Sea- side living across the street from McDonald’s,” Mullins said. “I think trying to add a couple more people is smart. Fire departments don’t re- spond to fires anymore; they respond to medical calls.” But with Benedict as the only paramedic on staff and volunteer firefighters having varying degrees of emergen- cy medical technician certi- fications, this can leave first responders without advanced life support for minutes in a field where seconds count. “Bringing on two firefight- er paramedics on alternating 12-hour shifts would mean we could have someone with the right skills respond no matter what,” Benedict said. “You just can’t predict when you are going to be responding to these kinds of calls.” Recruitment and retention Like many fire departments across the country, recruit- ing and retaining volunteers is a challenge. The number of volunteers has been slow- ly declining over a number of years, from about 30 to 18 who respond on a regular basis. It’s a problem reflect- ed in Cannon Beach’s citizen survey, where positive ratings for fire services dropped by 5 percent from last year. Benedict attributes vol- unteer retention issues to the heightened training required by the state that can demand more time. The lack of afford- able housing in Cannon Beach also makes it hard to find vol- unteers who can afford to live in the district they serve. To address the challenges, the recruitment and retention specialist would figure out what resources are available Cannon Beach’s Best Selection of Oregon and Washington Wine! UPCOMING TASTINGS Shack Hours Sunday - Th ursday 11am to 5pm Friday & Saturday 11am to 5:30pm Tasting Room Hours Saturdays • 1 to 5pm Jan 13 • Walla Walla Wines Jan 18 • Wine Women & Wealth - Money Talk Jan 20 • Wine Shack Favorites Jan 27 • Wine Tasting - Puffi n Wines “Best Wine Shop” - 2016 Reader’s Choice Award 124 N. Hemlock, Cannon Beach - 503.436.1100 - www.thewineshack.wine to solve the problem. The spe- cialist would explore different community partnerships in the hopes of expanding the pro- gram. With residents juggling the bond passed in 2016 to pay for the new Seaside school cam- pus, as well as a levy to pay for a firetruck, Benedict said he is exploring other funding options to limit the cost to tax- payers. The fire district is also dis- cussing whether to ask the city to raise the lodging tax as sup- plemental funding. “A majority of our respons- es are for individuals that do not pay property tax and are from out of town,” Benedict said. If the board doesn’t support the higher levy, the original fire chief levy, which would just pay for the chief’s salary and expenses, would be back on the ballot. It’s enough to operate with for now, Bene- dict said. But eventually, he believes these needs will have to be addressed. “What price do you put on a life?” Benedict said. “On a $100,000 house, you are paying $35 a year. That’s not much for an insurance plan.” State Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, praised Boone for her focus on coastal con- stituents and issues. “She has been the quint- essential citizen legislator,” Johnson said. New hopefuls Tim Josi, a Democrat who served in the state House from 1991 to 1998, an- nounced Tuesday he would not seek re-election to the Til- lamook County Commission and would instead run for Boone’s seat. He has been on the county commission since 1999. “If elected, I would hit the ground running,” Josi said in a news release. “Fortunately, I know the legislative process very well through almost 30 years of experience. I also have a solid understanding of the issues and problems that we face at the local, regional, state and national levels. Most importantly, I have learned how to work collaboratively with both Democrats and Re- publicans to forge solutions that fit our needs and move us in a positive direction.” Boone, a longtime staffer in Salem, previously worked under Josi. He was also en- couraged to run for the Legis- lature again by Johnson, who called him “an excellent pub- lic servant.” Brian Halvorsen, a com- munity organizer who found- ed North Coast Progressives last year, filed as an inde- pendent in September. On his campaign site, Halvors- en took aim at the two-party system and Boone’s history. He struck a populist tone, listing among his campaign priorities lowering income in- equality, increasing taxes on corporations and the wealthy, ending the use of fossil fuels in Oregon, reforming cam- paign financing and making education affordable. Doug Thompson, chair- man of the Clatsop County Democratic Central Com- mittee, said he hopes for con- tested primary and general elections and sees no favorite to replace Boone. Jim Hoff- man, chairman of the Clat- sop County Republican Party Central Committee, said the party is still figuring out who will run, and might know next month. The filing deadline is March 6. 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