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VOL. 144
NO. 29 8 Pages
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Recall effort fails,
MC Commissioners
retain seats
Multiple Fires Merge and move into
Morrow County
Jefff Wenholz
Map of the fires as of Tuesday afternoon. -Photo contributed.
By Chris Sykes
Yesterday, the Snake
Fire merged into the Mon-
key Creek Fire in the North
Fork John Day River corri-
dor, resulting in the 48,348-
acre Monkey Creek Fire.
The river corridor and other
drainages are experiencing
especially gusty conditions,
with high temperatures,
wind gusts, steep rimrock
terrain, and limited vis-
ibility complicating fire
suppression efforts.
“Our firefighters have
been battling these fires
day and night for several
days amid some of the most
challenging terrain and
weather in the state,” said
Incident Commander Tyler
McCarty. “We’re so proud
of the work they’ve done.
We’re talking a lot about
safety because there’s a lot
of work ahead of us to put
these fires out.”
Overnight, crews con-
tinued to line and mop up
spot fires from yesterday on
the northeast corner of the
Monkey Creek Fire. Along
the south end, where crews
saw the most active fire be-
havior, they used defensive
firing operations to burn
vegetation up to dozer lines
to head off the fire. Dozer
lines to the east and south
of the southern head of the
fire proved to be effective
and will be improved today.
On the southeast por-
tion of the Monkey Creek
Fire, firefighters continued
to scout for positions to line
and begin burn operations
to head off where the fire
crossed over the Middle
Fork John Day River. Crews
will continue defending and
protecting structures along
the river corridor, where
fire activity remains active.
On the north portion of the
Monkey Creek Fire, crews
continue to improve dozer
lines, looking for areas to
tie together lines and place
defensive burn operations.
Crews will continue
mop-up operations and
patrolling on the 4,485-
acre North Fork Owens
Fire, which stands at 20%
containment (the complex
stands at 3% containment).
Last night, acreage in-
creased due to more ac-
curate GPS mapping, not
from fire growth. Resources
from this division will also
support local initial attacks
for any potential new starts
from expected lightning
this afternoon.
Evacuations: Level 1
(Be Ready), Level 2 (Be
Set), and Level 3 (Go Now)
evacuations are in effect.
For updated information,
visit the Battle Mountain
Complex 2024 page.
The Monkey Creek
Fire has now moved into the
southeast corner of Morrow
County, and more informa-
tion will follow regarding
this development. Addi-
tionally, the Boneyard Fire
is also threatening Morrow
County.
Fire at a Glance: Battle
Mountain Complex
Total Estimated Size:
52,833 acres
Monkey Creek: 48,348
acres
North Fork Owens:
4,485 acres
Snake: (Merged with
Monkey Creek)
Containment: 3%
Cause: Under Investi-
gation
The challenging con-
ditions in the river corridor
and other drainages, char-
acterized by high tempera-
tures, wind gusts, steep
rimrock terrain, and limited
visibility, are complicating
fire suppression efforts. For
more information, visit the
Battle Mountain Complex
2024 page.
Lone Rock Fire Morn-
ing Briefing - July 23, 2024
Containment: 40%
Total Acres: 131,407
ODF Private Protec-
tion: 55,428 acres
BLM: 3,424 acres
USFS: 16,814 acres
Dept. of State: 1,513
acres
Unprotected Lands:
The effort to recall
three Morrow County com-
missioners—Roy Drago,
Jeff Wenholz, and David
Sykes—has failed. This
recall initiative, driven by
a group called Morrow
County Citizens for Lib-
erty and Justice, began in
late January 2024 and was
spearheaded by Irrigon
resident Stuart Dick.
The Morrow County
Citizens for Liberty and
Justice group held multiple
community meetings across
the county, starting with
the first meeting in Hep-
pner, which was attended
by nearly 50 residents and
additional participants on
Zoom. The group aimed to
discuss issues they believed
warranted a recall, focusing
on three main topics: the
proposed new Ambulance
-Continued to PAGE TWO Service Area (ASA) plan,
transparency issues regard-
BOC approves ambulance contract with
Boardman Fire
County, health district still negotiating
By Andrea Di Salvo
Morrow County is one
step closer to long-term
ambulance coverage for
the county after last week’s
board of commissioners
meeting in Irrigon, but a
few hurdles remain.
The Morrow Coun-
ty BOC approved a five-
year contract with Board-
man Fire Rescue District
(BFRD) last Wednesday.
However, Morrow County
Administrator Matthew
Jensen reported that, while
the county had awarded
Ambulance Service Areas
(ASAs) to Morrow County
Health District (MCHD)
and BFRD, the contract
with MCHD is still under
negotiation.
Jensen reiterated that
the ambulance provider
advisory committee had
not looked at financial as-
pects of the two applicants,
but that the county had
been negotiating final terms
with the health district and
Boardman Fire for the pre-
vious two weeks.
Boardman Fire’s con-
tract was fairly straightfor-
ward, he said. BFRD will
transition from interim pro-
vider to a five-year contract
as the Northern Ambulance
Service Area provider, ef-
fective July 17, 2024, and
ending June 30, 2029.
The total contract
amount is $1,375,000
plus Consumer Price In-
dex-based increases over
the five years, to be paid
quarterly. The estimated
cost for the first year is
around $275,000. Jensen
said the contract also allows
about 10 percent leeway for
undue expenses.
As for the health dis-
trict contract for the North-
east and Southern ASAs,
Jensen said the language
in the MCHD contract is
similar.
“We’re just working on
those final details, and spe-
cifically their requirement
for the IGA,” said Jensen.
He reported the county
had held multiple meet-
ings with MCHD to clarify
compensation and MCHD’s
request for intergovernmen-
tal agreements (IGAs) with
each of the county’s five
municipalities.
“We talked with them.
We went through some of
those details,” he said, add-
ing that they had developed
an IGA document to take to
the cities for consideration.
He said it was not a final
draft, but he was looking
for feedback.
“See if we can’t get
that taken care of so we
can get Morrow Coun-
ty Health District under
contract,” Jensen said. “If
there’s pushback on that,
we’ll be working with Mor-
row County Health District,
the attorneys and represen-
tatives from the cities, to
finalize and try to figure out
if that IGA is the path or if
we need to come back and
just bring something else to
the BOC.”
In fact, it seems there
might be some pushback
from at least one commu-
nity. Irrigon City Manager
Aaron Palmquist addressed
the board during public
comment, asking the com-
missioners to provide an
update and finalize con-
tracts as quickly as possible
to dispel rumors.
“Let’s get that going
so it can get on the street
and quiet the ‘rustling of
the winds,’” said Palmquist.
However, he also said
that, despite Irrigon’s sup-
port for MCHD, Irrigon
will not be entering into an
Roy Drago Jr.
intergovernmental agree-
ment with the health dis-
trict.
The city had previous-
ly passed a resolution in
support of MCHD as its
ambulance service provid-
er, but Palmquist said legal
counsel had recommended
not entering into an IGA.
“We appreciate that
Morrow County has chosen
who’s going to be the ASA
provider here,” he said.
“We just want to see that
agreement and get those
-Continued to PAGE SEVEN
David Sykes
ing the ASA, the new circuit
court building planned in
Heppner, and the county ad-
ministrator’s salary, as well
as Amazon tax abatements
and water nitrates. The
meetings allowed citizens
to give comments and ask
questions. At the end of the
initial meeting, a vote was
taken on whether to proceed
with recall efforts. The vote
was 26 for and 14 against.
The recall effort fo-
cused on addressing issues
within the county’s gover-
nance. By June 12, 2024,
Morrow County Clerk Bob-
bi Childers verified the
signatures on the recall
petition, confirming that it
had qualified to be included
on the ballot. The deadline
for the commissioners to
either resign or submit a
Statement of Justification
in 200 words or less, was
June 17, 2024. None of the
commissioners resigned,
prompting the scheduling
of a special recall election,
which was held on July 22,
2024.
The recall election re-
sults were as follows:
For Roy Drago:
Yes: 688
No: 1508*
Over Votes: 1
Under Votes: 15
Total: 2212
-Continued to PAGE THREE
Heppner Ranger District
temporarily closed
Pendleton – Due to
active wildfires in the
Heppner Ranger District,
compounded by extremely
unfavorable weather con-
ditions, limited firefighting
resources, and concern for
public safety, forest officials
in the Umatilla Nation-
al Forest are Temporarily
closing the Heppner Ranger
District.
The objective of the
closure is to proactively
protect public and firefighter
safety as multiple Incident
Management Teams contin-
ue to actively suppress large
wildfires in the Heppner
Ranger District, while local
resources respond to poten-
tial new smoke reports. Two
large wildfires are currently
burning in the Heppner
Ranger District, The Lone
Rock Fire is estimated to be
over 116,000 acres in size,
with 40% containment,
and Boneyard Fire, which
is currently estimated to be
over 8,300 acres and 0%
contained. All fires have
active suppression efforts
taking place and are be-
ing managed by Incident
Management Teams. Lone
Rock and Boneyard Fires
have triggered evacuation
orders for multiple towns.
With multiple large wild-
fires burning in the Hep-
-Continued to PAGE TWO
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
for more
information