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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2016)
LOCAL NEWS " Modulars coming to keep up with enrollment boom Parking and traic changes implemented By JENNIFER COLTON ! ! PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY HERMISTON FIRE & EMERGENCY SERVICES Hermiston hazmat crews respond to an overturned garbage truck outside of Heppner last week. Hermiston hazmat team responds to Heppner crash we were really glad to see them.” Last Wednesday after- Hermiston Fire & Emer- noon, a garbage truck start- gency Services handles all ed over a wooden bridge on hazardous material calls for Rhea Creek, about 12 miles northeast Oregon. The dis- south of Heppner. The truck trict is bordered to the south broke through the bridge, by district 14, based in On- overturning and landing in tario, and to the west by Dis- the creek. trict 3, based in Gresham. Fuel began to seep into The garbage truck inci- the water from the truck’s dent happened at 1:45 p.m.; engine while the driver hazmat was dispatched at VWUXJJOHG WR ¿QG D ZD\ WR 2:52 p.m., and the eight- call 9-1-1 — the phone line man team arrived on scene to the private property had before 5 p.m. been severed during the col- The Hermiston respond- lapse. ers continued the con- The emergency call tainment work started by came from a rural mail car- Heppner teams, including rier who came into contact adding additional booms — with the driver, according ORQJ FRQQHFWLRQV WKDW ÀRDW WR5XVW\(VWHV+HSSQHU¿UH above and below the water- chief. line to keep oil and debris “The rural carrier picked contained — and removing him up and took him to the oil from the water. next house,” Estes said Fri- “From what we could day. “Heppner Rescue re- tell, most of the oil was VSRQGHGWKHVKHULII¶VRI¿FH coming out of the engine and of course Heppner am- compartment, so that was a bulance. When the Herm- only a small amount,” Davis iston hazmat team came in, said. By JENNIFER COLTON ! ! 2LO DQG K\GUDXOLF ÀX- id were removed from the truck as well, and the driver was transported to a local hospital. In addition to the Hep- pner, Morrow County and Hermiston emergency re- sponse teams, an environ- mental company from the Tri-Cities was dispatched to respond, as well as two tow trucks to pull the vehicle from the water. The Hermiston crew ded- icated more than eight hours to the incident, according to battalion chief Jim Davis. “As far as a dump truck going off a bridge, that’s pretty uncommon,” Davis said with a laugh. “As far as the hazmat cleaning up oil and diesel spills, that’s pret- ty common. That’s probably the most common thing we do.” Public in the area was advised to watch for oil and plan on using a secondary ZDWHU VRXUFH ZKLOH ÀXLGV dissipated. The Hermiston School District will add six tempo- rary classrooms at Hermis- ton High School next month. The classrooms will pro- vide a stop-gap solution to the district’s rapid enroll- ment growth. Although the district planned for more students, January enrollment almost doubled those predictions: The district forecast an in- crease of 112 students from January 2015 to January 2016, but actual enrollment came in at 212 more stu- dents over that time period. Of district schools, Hermiston High School has the most students. The school’s current enrollment stands at 1,471; however, the senior class of 2016 has 289 students, and next year’s freshman class is expected to be about 375. Those extra 100 students could put the high school over its 1,600 student capacity — which does not include participants in the online and alternative school programs, who may use high school facilities. Facing that crunch, the Hermiston School Board discussed the rental of three modular buildings that could each house two classrooms. Funded from the district’s general fund, the rental was expected to cost about LQLWV¿UVW\HDUDQG Eastern Oregon $60,000 for any additional years. In the coming weeks, the three modular buildings will be erected between the HHS parking lot and the Weber Field parking lot. The classrooms will remove 21 parking spaces. “The district is experienc- ing record student growth, and modular facilities are necessary to accommodate the added students,” said Mike Kay, district executive director of operations. “We realize the impact the build- ings will have on parking and appreciate the patience DQG ÀH[LELOLW\ RI RXU VWX- dents, staff and community.” The location of the class- rooms had been used as a EXV URXWH 7UDI¿F SDWWHUQV within the parking lots will be rerouted for student safety. Forum “Living with the Challenges of Mental Health” featuring: Gordon Smith Tuesday, March 8 th , 2016 at 7:00 p.m. BMCC, Rm ST-200, 2411 NW Carden Ave., Pendleton For more information please call Karen at 541-966-3177. Need not be member to attend. Please detach and send with payment Name Phone # Address City E-mail address Please include a season fee of $20 per individual member. Please make checks payable to BMCC. $6.00 at the door, students free Lecture reminders will be sent via E-mail, as will weather cancellation notices, if necessary . 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