LOCAL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
New nonprofi t kicks
off with appreciation
dinner for veterans
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Boardman Fire Chief Marc Rogelstad addresses the Umatilla Rural Fire Protection District board on Wednesday night as part
of an independent investigation into the loss of their brush truck in a fi re early in the summer.
Investigation completed into loss of fi re truck
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Boardman Fire Chief Marc Rogel-
stad reported his fi ndings to the Uma-
tilla Rural Fire Protection District
board on Oct. 2 after completing an
independent investigation into a brush
truck that burned up during a fi re in
July.
The district responded to a natural
cover fi re started by a cigarette, near
the intersection of Highway 730 and
Highway 395 on July 21 at approxi-
mately 1 p.m.
During that incident, a fi re truck
known as Brush 11 caught fi re while
unattended.
“People there didn’t fully rec-
ognize the danger,” Rogelstad said,
chalking the incident up to inexperi-
ence and “tunnel vision.”
According to Rogelstad’s report
and an internal report by Umatilla Fire
Chief Steve Potts, responding person-
nel parked Brush 11 in tall grass.
“It was not a real good place to
park, but there were not a lot of good
options,” Rogelstad told the board.
The truck’s crew stretched 250
feet of hose through trees to reach
the fi re, according to the report Potts
wrote. At some point while they were
all up fi ghting the fi re, a spot fi re
ignited and moved under the truck,
which suffered “signifi cant damage”
as the crew tried to wind the hose
through the trees back to the truck.
The 2018 brush truck was valued
at about $150,000, Potts said, and
has already been replaced using a
combination of insurance money and
contingency funds.
Potts wrote in his report that inex-
perience led the crew to make mis-
takes, including parking in the grass
and not maintaining suffi cient sit-
uational awareness of the fi re’s
behavior.
They believed parking far away
from the fi re was safest, he said,
when in fact it would have been
more prudent to park close to the fi re
and use a short length of hose so that
they could maintain contact with the
apparatus and move it out of harm’s
way quickly if needed. He also noted
that the grass they were risking the
truck to defend was not valuable.
Rogelstad echoed many of Potts’
points in his own written and verbal
report, noting the heavy grasses and
swirling winds that day made it easy
for spot fi res to fl are up. He said the
Boardman district hadn’t lost a fi re
truck during his tenure there, but a
truck he was on while working in
Montana caught fi re once.
“This is a bad deal that hap-
pened,” he said. “There are a lot of
lessons learned out of it. The chief
gave his report and the young guys
will learn. This could happen any-
where. It could happen in Hermiston.
In fact, it opened my eyes a little bit,
and it will be a topic of conversation
around the table tomorrow.”
Rogelstad conducted his inves-
tigation last week after fi re board
member Mark Keith stated at a pre-
vious meeting he felt it was inappro-
priate to only have an internal inves-
tigation into the loss of an expensive
piece of taxpayer-funded equipment.
Keith told the Hermiston Herald
on Thursday he felt that Rogelstad
was chosen because he might give a
more positive report than someone at
the state level.
He said in an email he was also
dissatisfi ed that formal disciplinary
action wasn’t taken against the fi re-
fi ghters involved, and criticized the
fi re district for using “untrained low
level responders.”
“Our city is in a desperate situa-
tion with volunteers, paid staff and
leadership,” he said.
Potts told the Hermiston Herald
he considered more punitive actions
against the fi refi ghters involved,
but decided against it. He said they
were all “extremely remorseful” and
seemed willing and able to learn
from their mistakes. He felt that pun-
ishing them further might discour-
age them from continuing to serve
as fi refi ghters at a time when the dis-
trict is struggling to recruit and retain
experienced personnel. He also noted
July was a diffi cult time for them, as
a member of the staff had just been
killed in a drowning accident.
Potts said additional training and
refresher courses are being imple-
mented to address the problems seen
on July 21, and he is asking experi-
enced offi cials from neighboring fi re
districts to help with the training to
provide diverse perspectives.
As for the district’s problems
keeping staffed, Potts told the fi re
board last Wednesday that he is look-
ing at new ways to handle the short-
age, which is a nationwide problem
for fi re districts.
Ideas he is working to implement
include more collaboration with the
neighboring districts, call response
pay and creating a program where city
of Umatilla staff could get trained as
volunteer fi refi ghters and remain on
the clock for the city while respond-
ing to fi res during their normal work
hours.
“We’re trying to think outside the
box and look at all options in order to
boost our response,” he said.
As Sue Long-Hosek
watched veterans bond with
each other after a golf fund-
raiser last year, she knew
she wanted to create more
opportunities like the one
unfolding before her eyes.
Long-Hosek’s fi rst hus-
band was a Vietnam vet-
eran who struggled with
severe post-traumatic stress
disorder from the time he
returned home up to when
he took his own life in 2014.
Afterward, she tried to do
what she could to help vet-
erans like him by hosting
golf tournament fundraisers
to benefi t national veterans
organizations and the local
American Legion.
“That’s why this is a pas-
sion of mine,” she said.
“That’s why I want to help
in any way I can.”
She and her current hus-
band, Ron Hosek, have
started the Conrad Skin-
ner Veterans Memorial Pro-
gram, with the goal of acting
as a “stopgap” for veterans
and their families in Uma-
tilla, Morrow and Union
counties if they have needs
that aren’t being met by
other organizations. Their
mission statement says they
plan to provide “opportuni-
ties and support for Veterans
and their families in time of
crisis or need.”
“This is not in conjunc-
tion with the VA, it is not to
take the place of the VA, but
it is kind of a supplement
for things that the VA might
not be able to address on an
immediate basis,” Long-Ho-
sek said.
They will announce spe-
cifi c services they have in
mind at a Veterans Appreci-
ation Dinner cosponsored by
the new nonprofi t, American
Legion Post #37, Greater
Hermiston Area Chamber
of Commerce and Herm-
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Parking problems frustrate business owner
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
If you’ve ever argued
with your neighbor before,
it may have been over
parking.
Frustrated
residents
sometimes call the police or
city hall to complain about
someone parking in front of
their home or business, but
there isn’t much to be done.
Unless it’s blocking a fi re
hydrant, driveway or other
no-parking zone, anyone
can legally park on the street
in front of your property.
“On-street parking is for
everyone,” Hermiston City
Planner Clint Spencer said.
Trying to use signs or
paint to prevent people from
using public, on-street park-
ing is against the city’s code
of ordinances.
Cynthia Traner owns
the mercantile Her Shabby
Shed at 165 S.W. Third St.,
on a block that contains sev-
eral former homes that have
since been turned into busi-
nesses, including a salon
and law offi ces. She said
most of the older homes
where companies are now
operating out of don’t have
driveways or parking lots,
causing their employees and
company vehicles to take up
on-street parking in front of
neighboring businesses.
“I have lost business
as several of my custom-
ers said they came by and
(there) was no parking like
before, and furthermore I
can’t even park in front of
my shop to load or unload
merchandise,” she wrote in
a message to the Herald.
She said she understands
that the on-street parking is
public, but she wishes the
city would increase its park-
ing requirements for busi-
nesses operating in mixed
commercial and residential
areas.
Spencer said there are
requirements for businesses
to have off-street parking,
but the city passed an ordi-
nance in 2017 stating that
businesses within 500 feet
of certain municipal park-
ing lots can count that park-
ing as their off-street park-
ing. The neighborhood
where Traner’s business
sits is near a city-owned lot
on Orchard Avenue, which
allows them to count those
spaces as their own off-
street parking.
“The city passed the res-
olution to encourage some
of those houses to convert
to commercial use,” Spen-
cer said.
iston parks and recreation
department.
The dinner is on Sun-
day, Oct. 20 at 3 p.m. at the
Hermiston Community Cen-
ter, 415 S. Highway 395. It is
free for all veterans and their
immediate family, and com-
munity members who wish
to attend and show their
appreciation for veterans are
asked to make a donation in
an amount of their choosing.
Everyone planning to attend
is asked to RSVP to Herm-
iston Parks and Recreation,
541-667-5018 or gwicks@
hermiston.or.us.
The Conrad Skinner Vet-
erans Memorial Program is
run by a board of 11 peo-
ple, most of which are vet-
erans or their spouses. It
is a 501©3 nonprofi t that
accepts
tax-deductible
contributions.
Conrad Skinner grew up
in Hermiston and served in
the United States Marine
Corps before taking his own
life in April at age 23. Hosek
said two of Skinner’s rela-
tives sit on the nonprofi t’s
board, and he and his wife
met with Skinner’s parents
and grandparents to get their
blessing before dedicating
the project to his memory.
“We are losing 20 to 22
veterans a day to PTSD and
suicide,” Hosek said.
He said he and Long-Ho-
sek and other members of
the board want to reduce
those numbers locally, and
also support family mem-
bers who may be at a loss to
know how to deal with their
love one’s struggles. Hosek
said they already have books
they can loan out to help
children understand that
“mom or dad are not angry
at them, it’s an illness.”
Long-Hosek said she is
open to suggestions for what
needs are not being met else-
where, and how they can
best help veterans with their
limited resources.
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