March 17, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A
Red Cross to hold trainings, outreach in spring
By Lyra Fontaine
For EO Media Group
After the Manzanita tor-
nado in October, residents
like Larry Wiedenhoft, an
emergency volunteer corps
of Nehalem Bay member,
sprang into action. Volunteers
responded to the scene in vari-
ous ways, from watching traf-
fic, removing trees and finding
shelter for displaced people to
helping the Red Cross con-
duct an official damage as-
sessment.
“The community was
there within minutes,” said
Monique Dugaw, communi-
cations director for the Amer-
ican Red Cross Cascades Re-
gion. Manzanita’s recovery
process has been “outstand-
ing” due to the immediate re-
sponse of trained volunteers,
she added.
“It was amazing because
everyone just came and did
whatever job needed to be
done,” said Wiedenhoft, who
has American Red Cross,
Community Emergency Re-
sponse Team and emergency
medical services training. “We
all know each other and we
know what each other can do.”
To strengthen its partner-
ship with Cannon Beach, Red
Cross will hold a general re-
cruitment session on March 30
at the Cannon Beach Chamber
Hall from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Residents will learn from Red
Cross disaster program man-
agers about the organization,
how the training works and
can sign up to volunteer.
“We believe individuals
in Cannon Beach are resilient
and well-prepared,” Dugaw
said. “We want to make sure
we tap into that preparedness
and strengthen our commu-
nity partnerships by offering
Red Cross training and en-
gaging individuals who are
already prepared themselves.”
The Cascades region helps
an average of three families
each day who are affected
by disasters, such as home
fires and storms. After a re-
cent home fire, the Red Cross
opened a shelter so that 30 in-
dividuals displaced from their
homes could have access to
food, water, showers and an
overnight stay.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Members of the Cascade Red Cross. The Red Cross will be conducting training in Cannon
Beach on March 30.
The Red Cross will train
Cannon Beach volunteers on
disaster action, preparedness
and sheltering displaced peo-
ple after an emergency, such
as a tsunami.
Disaster response training
might include deploying to
scenes like home fires to as-
sist families with food, shel-
ter, clothing, mental health
resources and other immedi-
ate basic needs. Preparedness
education trains residents to
deliver presentations with-
in their community, install
smoke alarms, put together
disaster supply kits and other
For Gearhart firefighter, it’s 55 years and counting
Blissett has seen
tragedy, enjoyed
friends
Jon Blissett joined the
Gearhart Volunteer Fire De-
partment in 1962, and today is
the department’s oldest active
member.
Blissett looks back at 55
years of firefighting and the
changes he’s seen in the com-
munity.
Q: How old are you?
I’ll be 80 this time next
year. I feel great.
Q: Tell me about your
background in Gearhart.
I owned the Chevron gas
station in Gearhart right next
to the fire station. Then the
DEQ (Department of Environ-
mental Quality) got into the
situation with the tanks. They
were old, they wanted lots of
repairs. I closed in 1992.
Q: I heard something
about oil company execu-
tives getting worked up over
the station’s decor?
I painted whales on the gas
station building. They got cra-
zy. They said we’re taking your
dealership away from you. I
said what difference does that
make? I can get the same damn
gas and don’t have to do what
you guys are telling me to do.
After that I didn’t take Stan-
dard Oil cards, I took Bank of
America cards. It didn’t make
any difference to me.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Jon Blissett has served with
the Gearhart Volunteer Fire
Department for 55 years.
Q: What have you been
doing since 1992?
I was a fireman and I clam
dug, commercial clam digger.
I’m married. I have three boys.
One boy lives in the area. He’s
a captain on the Tidewater
Barge Lines. The other two are
out of the area, one in Seattle
and the other’s in Grants Pass.
Q: What kind of activities
do you do with the Gearhart
Fire Department?
I have been there so long I
don’t really have a desire to go
in and breathe a lot of smoke.
I feel like I was in it. We do
have younger guys that are re-
ally into it, and it’s really good
they are.
Q: Things were different
when you started?
You might say they were
A
different, but jumping on the
trucks and going to the fires
was the same. The difference
is the improvements between
now and then. We didn’t have
the modern Plectrons we have
now in our home. We had a
siren. The siren would go off.
We’d respond to the station.
I’d be the first one. Pick up the
phone and find out where the
fire was, mark it on the bulletin
board and then get up and go.
Q: Serious fires?
John Osburn, who owned
the Gearhart Hotel, was my
uncle. That was quite a build-
ing. I worked there in high
school. There were fires there.
The golf course across the
street caught on fire. That was
a big one.
One time, we were called
into a structure fire. There was
smoke coming out of the roof
and the windows were black.
All the firemen — including
myself — thought it was a
real serious fire. So we pulled
the ladder out and got out the
chainsaw and started to drill a
hole on the roof to vent and I
opened the door and there was
just smoke in the building that
wasn’t like hot smoke, just
smoke. There was no smoke
coming out of the chimney, but
there was a fire in the stove.
Well, a squirrel had got up into
the chimney and built a nest
and plugged up all the ventila-
tion for the fire to go up out of
the chimney. Smoke was just
filling the room.
Q: Who were some of the
memorable people you’ve
worked with at the depart-
ment?
Memorable firemen —
there were a lot of them.
There’s a plaque in front of
the firehouse of all the people
who built the station. Den-
ny Holmes. Bill Heckenberg.
They’re still alive. They’re
older than me. Randy Curs
owned the grocery store. When
the siren rang, he and I would
race down there to see who got
there first. The story got out
that one time the fire siren rang
and I got halfway down to the
station and came back and got
my car and drove back to the
station — which was a block.
Q: Did you ever lose any-
body?
Yeah … yeah. We lost a
small child in the house right
next to the gas station. That’s
not something you want to
keep in the back of your mind.
Q: Any moments you
couldn’t deal with?
I could deal with all of it.
The guy on the beach who
covered himself with gas, and
lit himself on fire, was burn-
ing when we got there. Some
things we don’t want to re-
member.
Q: How long are you go-
ing continue to volunteer?
That’s a good question. I
think that’s up to somebody
else. The guys are really good
guys. There’s always a few …
but it seems if they’re there
long enough, they get straight-
ened out. It’s more or less just
being able to provide a service
rather than how long I want to
be there. I’ll know.
— R.J. Marx
actions that increase readi-
ness.
Dugaw said the Red Cross
will form relationships with
Medical Reserve Corps and
CERT.
“The more people that we
have cross-trained in disaster
response and recovery, the
more resilient communities
can become for disasters of all
kind,” Dugaw said.
“I think for our little rural
communities, we all need to be
cross-trained to do everything,”
Wiedenhoft said. “If something
happens, it might take awhile
for help to arrive. Any commu-
nity can train volunteers to do
the stuff that we did.”
After the tornado, which
damaged 128 structures,
Wiedenhoft remembers see-
ing downed trees and power
lines and planned to help with
medical response. When he
learned no one was hurt, he
switched modes to taking care
of people who were displaced
from their home. He helped
relocate them to a safe place
and eventually to the local
Red Cross shelter at Calvary
Bible Church.
Alaska man
dies along
Highway 26
Seaside Signal
An Alaska man died
Tuesday morning after he
was struck by a car on U.S.
Highway 26 just east of
Seaside.
The 44-year-old man
from Ketchikan, Alaska,
was standing in the road-
way shortly before 7 a.m.
when he was hit by a car
traveling eastbound.
Kathy Barnes, 43, of
Seaside, was driving a
2011 Subaru Legacy when
she struck the pedestrian.
Oregon State Police have
not yet released the man’s
name.
The highway was
closed for about four hours
following the incident.
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Dr. VanderWaal & Providence Seaside Hospital
for your care & compassion during
Frank Davis’ last days
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