WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL
HH FILE PHOTO
Stacks of dry goods sit in a Port of Morrow warehouse
waiting to be exported overseas.
Finalists announced for Port
of Morrow general manager
HERMISTON HERALD
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY MARY KATE RIVERA.
Fire burns along the Columbia River east of Hat Rock Sunday evening.
Fire grows to 10,250 acres
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
The fire burning along
Highway 730 was 65 percent
contained Tuesday morn-
ing after crews fought back
flames fanned by high winds
and extreme temperatures.
The fire — dubbed the
Lake Wallula Fire — began
Sunday evening and was at
approximately 10,250 acres
Tuesday.
Highway 730 was closed
from Cold Springs Junc-
tion to Wallula Junction for
most of the day Monday,
and Umatilla County Road
37 was closed for part of the
day.
Umatilla County Fire
District 1 operations chief
Jim Forquer said the district
got called to the fire about 5
p.m. Sunday night, and as
of Monday morning it had
spread somewhere between
3,000 and 5,000 acres, con-
tinuing to burn throughout
the day. The cause of the fire
is under investigation.
“We’re concerned about
fire behavior and the weather
expected this morning,” he
said Monday morning, call-
ing the fire’s patterns “spo-
radic.” A news release from
the incident management
team stated that fighting the
fire was complicated by the
fact that much of the terrain
was difficult to access.
By 5:30 p.m. Monday,
Forquer said that fire crews
had a “pretty good handle”
on containment and were
moving into the mop-up
phase.
Forquer said Umatilla
Rural Fire District, Echo Fire
District and other area dis-
tricts were also on scene, as
well as the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife.
He said area farmers were
also helping disc fire breaks.
About 80 people were fight-
Cooperative’s Juniper Can-
yon substation and affected
some transmission lines to
the Hermiston East Substa-
tion. Forquer said the Juni-
per Canyon substation was
shut off briefly as the fire
approached but that concern
was mitigated.
Temperatures were in the
100s during the early part of
the week.
“People need to use a
lot of caution the next few
days,” Forquer said. “With
the hot and dry conditions
the fire danger is getting
worse every day.”
Highway
730
has
re-opened but the public is
warned to drive cautiously
as there is still an active fire
in the area. Updated road
closure information is avail-
able on www.tripcheck.com
and updated power outage
information is available on
outageviewer.umatillaelec-
tric.com.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
An Oregon Department
of Transportation crew
blocks traffic northbound
on Highway 37 near Walls
Road due to an out of control
brushfire Monday east of
Hermiston. Both Highway
37 and Highway 730 were
closed due to the fire.
ing the fire in total, and they
were provided air support by
helicopter water drops and
retardant planes.
Some
Hermiston-area
residents experienced inter-
ruptions to their electric-
ity Monday afternoon as the
fire neared Umatilla Electric
Finalists for the Port of
Morrow manager position
will be available for a meet
and greet with the public
next Monday.
The
port’s
board
announced Monday after-
noon that the finalists are
Dean Gardner, Ryan D.
Neal, Stephanie Seamans
and Peter M. Wilhelm.
They will attend a meet
and greet at the Riverfront
Room, 2 Marine Drive in
Boardman, from 5-7 p.m.
on Aug. 6. Appetizers and
non-alcoholic beverages
will be provided, and the
finalists will give a short
speech at 5:30 p.m.
The candidate chosen
for the general manager
job by the port’s board
will replace longtime Port
of Morrow manager Gary
Neal, who is retiring at the
end of the year.
Finalist Ryan Neal is
Gary Neal’s son. He is cur-
rently the general manager
of warehousing for the Port
of Morrow and the only
finalist from Boardman.
He was formerly director
of operations for Haney
Truck Line and regional
sales manager for Knight
Transportation, according
to information provided
in a news release from the
port. He has a bachelor’s
in business from Oregon
State University.
Gardner works for Nex-
tLevel: Building Enter-
prise Value and is currently
living in Selah, Washing-
ton. He is the former CEO
of Larson Fruit Company,
former CEO of United
Pump & Supply and has an
MBA in marketing, finance
and accounting from Uni-
versity of Texas.
Seamans is a certified
public accountant and cur-
rently lives in Kennewick
as the community and eco-
nomic development man-
ager for Benton-Franklin
Council of Goverments.
She is the former busi-
ness development manager
and CPA for the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation and has
a bachelor’s in business
accounting from Univer-
sity of Idaho.
Wilhelm also lives in
Kennewick and is cur-
rently project manager
for Boise/PCA Paper Mill
in Wallula, Washington
through QBM Manage-
ment, Inc. He is the former
plant manager of Zeachem,
Inc. and has a bachelor’s of
mechanical engineering
from University of Idaho
and an MBA from Univer-
sity of Oregon.
BRIEFS
Man accidentally
stabs self while
cutting vegetables
Hermiston
Police
responded to reports of a
man with a stab wound
Wednesday evening and
found a man with an uninten-
tional, self-inflicted injury.
According to police chief
Jason Edmiston, a 50-year-
old male was cutting vegeta-
bles and stabbed himself in
the abdomen. He said when
the police were notified, the
wound was two hours old.
“The family tried to pro-
vide necessary first aid,
but after a couple of hours
it became clear he needed
immediate
attention,”
Edmiston said.
He said the man was
taken to the hospital, but,
against advice, left on his
own. Edmiston said that
based on statements and evi-
dence, police believe alco-
hol may have been a contrib-
uting factor in the incident.
“What appeared to start
as a police matter quickly
turned into a medical issue,”
Edmiston said.
Blood shortage
continues
The American Red Cross
is facing a blood donation
shortage as blood is being
sent to hospitals faster than
it is being donated.
Right now there is less
than a five-day supply on
hand, according to a news
release sent out by the Red
Cross on Wednesday. The
biggest need is for Type O,
the most-transfused blood
type in the country.
“Patients don’t get a sum-
mer break from the need
for lifesaving treatments, so
it is critical that hospitals
have access to blood prod-
ucts each and every day,”
said Nick Gehrig, commu-
nications executive, said in
a statement. “We sincerely
appreciate those who have
responded to the call to help
save lives, but the emer-
gency need remains. Those
who haven’t rolled up a
sleeve to give are urged to
do so today.”
Those who give blood
or platelets between July
30 and Aug. 30 will receive
a $5 Amazon gift card as a
thank you.
Hermiston’s next sched-
uled blood drive is Aug.
13 from 11:30 a.m. to 5
p.m. at the Hermiston Pub-
lic Library, 235 E. Gladys
Ave. Pendleton’s next drive
is Aug. 3 from 11 a.m. to 4
p.m. at the Roundup Ath-
letic Club, 1415 Southgate.
Numerous opportunities to
donate in Walla Walla and
the Tri-Cities can also be
found by visiting redcross-
blood.org or downloading
the app.
Umatilla County
verifying 1,695
signatures for Second
Amendment initiative
Gun rights activists in
Umatilla County submit-
ted almost 1,700 signatures
so far to place the Second
Amendment Preservation
Ordinance on the November
ballot.
The initiative would
restrict Umatilla County
states that on July 23 a sheep
herder heard wolves howl-
ing and then witnessed six
livestock guard and herd-
ing dogs engage with two
wolves near a sheep pen at
about 3 a.m.
The wolves retreated, but
one dog gave chase through
the forest. The 80-pound
male dog returned about 20
minutes later with severe
injuries and died the follow-
ing night.
The incident happened
in the area of Ruckel Ridge
south of Tollgate. The sheep
were on a U.S. Forest Ser-
vice grazing allotment.
ODFW examined the
dog after its death and found
“multiple paired canine
punctures” on its neck, right
armpit and lumbar vertebra
and smaller bite marks on
the right hind leg, right flank
and abdomen. A wolf from
the Ruckel Ridge pack with
a radio collar had a GPS
location about half a mile
from the sheep band before
the attack.
“The size, number, and
locations of the bite marks
with the associated mus-
cle trauma are sufficient to
attribute the death of this
livestock dog to a wolf or
wolves of the Ruckel Ridge
pack,” ODFW concluded.
from using any resources to
enforce state or federal laws
infringing “on the right of
the People to keep and bear
arms.” The initiative des-
ignates the county sheriff
as the authority to decide
which of those laws would
cross the infringement line.
Umatilla County elec-
tions director Kim Lindell
said petitioners Jesse Bon-
ifer of Athena and Kevin
Pettey of Hermiston deliv-
ered 1,695 signatures this
week. The elections divi-
sions needs a few days to
verify those, Lindell said,
and the petition needs 1,131
to land the proposal on the
ballot.
The deadline for submitting
signatures is Aug. 8
at 5 p.m. Lindell said
Bonifer and Pettey plan
to continuing gathering
signatures until then. The
election is Nov. 6.
Wolves kill dog
guarding sheep in
Umatilla County
Wolves killed a sheep
dog guarding a herd in Uma-
tilla County on Monday.
A depredation report
from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife
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GOBHI taking
donations for
Substation Fire
Greater Oregon Behav-
ioral Health, Inc. is col-
lecting donations for those
affected by the Substation
Fire that burned through
Sherman and Wasco coun-
ties last week.
The nearly 80,000-acre
fire burned 2 million bush-
els of wheat, four homes
and dozens of outbuildings,
according to The Dalles
Chronicle.
Tax-deductible
dona-
tions can be given at www.
gofundme.com/substa -
tion-fire-relief-deduct-
ible. GOBHI is also help-
ing coordinate distribution
of funds collected through
another account started
during the fire, and has
helped jump-start the giv-
ing with a $5,000 donation.
Funds will be used to pro-
vide affected families with
gift cards, groceries, lodg-
ing, gas and other short-
term needs.
“This fire has dealt
far-reaching
adverse
impacts to community mem-
bers in Sherman and Wasco
counties,” said GOBHI
CEO Kevin Campbell. “We
know the public wants to
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