LOCAL
A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, JuLy 24, 2019
Photo contributed by the umatilla County Sheriff’s Office
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan shows the sheriff’s office’s latest big equipment
acquisition — a new utility task vehicle capable of rescues over rugged terrain and rough
conditions.
Blaze, a 7-year-old lab mix, drinks from a bucket at Pendleton Animal Welfare Shelter (PAWS).
New vehicle boosts sheriff’s
office rescue abilities
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office has a new
tool for responding to major
crises. County emergency
manager Tom Roberts said
the Polaris Ranger Crew XP
1000 EPS Northstar HVAC
Edition fills a critical gap for
the sheriff’s office.
The utility task vehicle
arrived July 15 to the sher-
iff’s office. Roberts said it
can transport six people in
the cab plus has a seat and
stretcher in the exterior bed
for a patient care provider
and someone who is immo-
bile. The rig is for off-road
work and runs on snow
tracks for winter.
Sheriff Terry Rowan said
this was a solid acquisition
for the sheriff’s office. The
patrol division has a simi-
lar vehicle for working in
off-highway vehicle parks,
state parks and the like, he
said, but without the capa-
bility to transport medics
and patients.
Roberts said the need
for this kind of vehicle
became apparent on Dec.
31, 2012, when a tour bus
carrying dozens of passen-
gers crashed and plummeted
down a mountainside near
Deadman Pass on Interstate
84 east of Pendleton. Nine
people died in that wreck,
and 39 suffered injuries,
many serious.
“We had to bring in a
similar vehicle from Walla
Walla to assist with that epi-
sode,” Roberts said. Since
then the emergency man-
agement department has
worked to get a UTV of its
own, seeking funds from the
Homeland Security Grant
Program under the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency. The grant program
plays an important role in
FEMA’s National Prepared-
ness System, funding pre-
paredness activities from
emergency planning to train-
ing to equipment purchases.
“We were finally awarded
$48,838 for the procure-
ment of this unit,” Roberts
said. The funds also will go
toward buying a trailer to
transport it.
Rowan said the grants
are not easy to win because
they are so competitive.
Agencies across the county
apply for funds to enhance
their ability to respond to
emergencies.
“We’re just thankful this
go-round we had a compel-
ling enough application to
get funding,” he said.
The sheriff’s office will
house the vehicle with other
equipment for the search
and rescue team, and the
team will oversee the use
of the Polaris. Roberts said
he anticipates the team will
have ample opportunity to
use the UTV. The team each
year, particularly during the
winter, hustles to mountain
areas to help lost hunters and
the like.
The sheriff’s office aims
to have the UTV ready soon,
and Rowan said the public
can expect to see it working
in August at the Umatilla
County Fair, where medical
teams will put it use taking
patients to ambulances if the
need arises.
High temperatures can spell disaster
for dogs, children left in cars
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
The days are long, the
pools are open, and tempera-
ture predictions are show-
ing highs in the 90s this
week. While summertime is
a relaxing season for many,
it’s also a potentially danger-
ous time for dogs and chil-
dren left in cars at the mercy
of their guardians.
“We haven’t taken that
many calls this year,” Lt.
Charles Byram of the Pend-
leton Police Department
said. “The weather is a little
milder.”
But, Byram said, the calls
do happen. Usually in park-
ing lots outside stores like
Safeway or Walmart.
Last month in Medford, a
man received a felony charge
for animal abuse after falling
asleep in his home and leav-
ing his dog unattended in a
car. The 4-year-old Minia-
ture Pinscher did not survive
the incident.
While it might not seem
like a big deal to leave a furry
companion in the car for a
few minutes, the thermome-
ter begs to differ. Temperate
80-degree weather can cause
a car to heat up to 99 degrees
in 10 minutes, according to
the Humane Society.
Byram said within an
hour, the temperature in
a car could rise 30 to 50
degrees from the outside
temperature.
“You’re putting them at
risk for heat stroke and pos-
sibly death,” said Umatilla
County Public Health dep-
uty director Alisha South-
wick. “Rolling down the
window is not enough. It
doesn’t help.”
Hermiston Police Depart-
ment Chief Jason Edmis-
ton said that in Hermiston,
calls about animals in cars
increase in the summer.
This year, the depart-
ment has handled nearly 300
dog-related calls but that it’s
hard to say how many of
those calls were caused by
owners leaving pets in cars.
He said the depart-
ment prefers to have police
officers, rather than code
enforcement, handle these
calls.
In 2017 it became legal in
Oregon to break into a motor
vehicle to rescue a child or
domestic animal.
Anyone who does so
is required to stay at the
scene until law enforcement
arrives. But it must first be
determined that the vehicle
is locked, and that there is no
way for the child or animal
to escape the vehicle. It must
also be determined that the
entry is necessary because
the subject is in imminent
harm.
But what does imminent
harm look like?
Dogs suffering from heat
stroke can be found panting
more than usual, drooling
and acting drowsy, and pos-
sibly even vomiting, accord-
ing to the American Society
for the Prevention of Cru-
elty to Animals. They might
have gums and tongues that
look redder than normal,
too.
Byram said if someone
spots an animal, or even a
child, in a parked car who
looks to be in danger, it
might be better to call the
police department before
taking action, if time allows
it.
“We’re there in a matter
of minutes,” he said.
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