September 15, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A
FIREFIGHTERS
COME HOME
Two teams of
firefighters
from Clatsop
County helped
fight the Eagle
Creek Fire.
INCIWEB VIA AP
Local task forces
sent to fight Oregon
wildfires
By Brenna Visser
Seaside Signal
C
annon Beach Fire Chief Matt
Benedict has been called to
fight many wildfires over his
20-year career, so getting the call
from the state to go to Sisters and
Eagle Creek for two weeks didn’t
feel much different.
But when he found himself at
Multnomah Falls, memories of a fire
that raged in 1991 were rekindled.
He was a student in fire science at
the time, and recalled protecting the
historic lodge for two days straight
with his classmates and mentor.
“I just remember thinking,
‘Wow, this all over again,’” Bene-
dict said.
The fire chief was among the
more than 50 Clatsop County fire-
fighters who were deployed with
Oregon State Fire Marshal Inci-
dent Management to the Milli Fire
in Sisters, the Chetco Bar Fire in
Brookings and the Eagle Creek Fire
in Multnomah County throughout
late August and early September.
As of Tuesday, a team of 13 fire-
fighters at the Milli Fire in Sisters,
another team of 14 at the Chetco
Fire near Brookings and two teams
of 13 and 14 in Eagle Creek have all
returned home. It was the first time
in Clatsop County history two task
forces were sent simultaneously to
fight fires around the state, Knappa
Fire Chief Paul Olheiser said.
The team deployed to Chetco
Bar broke state history for the most
days spent on a fire as a part of a
conflagration order from the state.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Firefighters from the fourth Clatsop County task force pose in front of Multnomah Falls after fighting the Eagle
Creek fire last week.
Olheiser, who is coordinating
the county’s volunteer effort, said
firefighters from Seaside, Gearhart,
Olney, Lewis and Clark, Cannon
Beach, Warrenton and Knappa fire
districts were dispatched to fires
throughout the state. As of midweek,
more than 20 wildfires are burning
throughout Oregon.
Many of the firefighters served on
multiple task forces — some even
back to back, not even making it
back into their own homes for more
than a few hours.
This year it was unusual to de-
ploy four task forces in one summer
for out-of-town fires, Olheiser said.
Before this summer, the next most
active summer was in 2015 with two
task forces, and just occasional de-
ployments every few years before
then.
“Without dedication from the
community, we could never do these
things. It’s a hard hit to a small busi-
ness if you lose two or three employ-
ees for weeks,” Olheiser said.
Olheiser said the number of fire-
fighters sent and from which fire de-
partment is based on availability of
personnel and resources.
“When the state gives a resource
order, you go down the list of what
the state is asking for and see who
has it,” he said. “Starting with Mil-
li Fire, I was getting daily updates
from departments of who was avail-
able and what was available.”
and the number of tasks to complete
plentiful. But between moments of
exhaustion, Como said, were feel-
ings of excitement.
Como was in charge of a truck
designed for fighting brush fires.
He and the other volunteers were
in charge of trimming back foliage
close to houses that could catch on
fire and turning on sprinkler systems
as preventative measures. The team
would also help protect livestock
and watch for spot fires.
Together the task force triaged al-
most 50 homes.
“Being in a fire is a finely-tuned
machine,” Como said. “If you look
at the big picture, it seems like it will
never get done. But when you break
it down into parts, it’s like a lawn-
mower: there’s a blade that cuts the
grass and shaft that connects to the
engine — each thing plays it’s own
little part in making it work.”
“Maybe we were just a team of
13 people out of 1,800, but if we
weren’t there to protect those homes
then that job wouldn’t have gotten
done.”
Late night call
Put people at ease
Lt. Josh Como, with the Gearhart
Volunteer Fire Department, had just
gotten back from a family vacation
when he got the late-night call to
fight the Chetco Bar Fire. He’s been
with the department 11 years, he
said, but being called out to a fire out
of town and of this size was a first.
“I got the call at 11:14 p.m., and
by 3 a.m. we were on the road to
Brookings,” Como said. “I think it
first set in what we were doing when
the sun started coming up over I-5,
a couple of hours in. If you weren’t
ready — it was too late. You have to
try picturing yourself there.”
Days were long — often starting
at 5 a.m. and ending at midnight —
Often people envision dramatic
battles between firefighter and flame.
But, sometimes, the job of a fire-
fighter is not only to put out the fire,
but just to put people at ease, Bene-
dict said.
“We were cutting weeds around
one family’s house who were on
Level 1 evacuation, which just
means be prepared if you need to go,
and they were visibly scared,” Ben-
edict said. “So we showed the kids
around the truck, showed them what
we do with the sprinklers. It gives us
an opportunity to talk to people to
bring them down from that fear and
help them know what they can do in
the future to be safe.”
How South County food bank serves a growing need
Church has impact
for food bank
By Brenna Visser
Seaside Signal
For the past four years, the
South Clatsop County Food
Bank had always counted on
the North Coast Family Fel-
lowship as a steady source for
donations.
But at the beginning of this
year, regional manager Kar-
la Gann started to see more
and more blue bags filled to
the brim with food donations.
Instead of receiving 500 to
800 pounds of food from the
church like she expected, she
started getting monthly dona-
tions of 800 to 1,400 pounds.
It’s called blue bag Sunday.
The first Sunday of the month,
the congregation of the North
Coast Family Fellowship piles
fruits, vegetables, canned
goods and more into blue bags
that read “With Love” on the
side, and leave them in the
church for the food bank to
pick up Monday. This church
alone makes up one-tenth of
all donations to the food bank.
It’s a type of donation Gann
rarely sees from a private enti-
ty, and she said the impacts are
huge.
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
South Clatsop County Food Bank regional manager Karla
Gann stands next to stacks of donations recently made by
a local church. Gann said the amount of donated goods has
increased dramatically since the beginning of the year.
“We can go from distrib-
uting 65 pounds of food to
a family at one time to 125
pounds. Before we were able
to give out about on average
three days worth of food to a
recipient,” Gann said. “Be-
cause of this increase, now I
can give out closer to five days
worth of food at a time. This
helps get people through.”
In Clatsop County, that
means helping the 390 to 470
families who come in each
month needing food to get by
before payday.
“It keeps the money flow-
ing. We are saving $700 to
$1,000 a month to keep the
lights and to build a reserve
instead of spending it on
building up our food supply,”
she said. “Everyone here is a
volunteer. So it’s significant.”
‘With Love’
When John Neagle joined
the North Coast Family Fel-
lowship last October, the pas-
tor liked how the ministry had
State seeks input on Nehalem River plan
EO Media Group
The Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department is tak-
ing feedback until mid-Octo-
ber on a proposal to add a 17-
mile section of the Nehalem
River to the state scenic wa-
terways program. A scenic
waterway designation helps
protect the scenic, natural and
recreation value of a section
of river by subjecting some
activities within one-quarter
mile of the bank to a review.
The designation would
include several miles of the
river in southern Clatsop
County between Henry Rier-
son Spruce Run Park and the
Beaver Eddy Campground.
The designation would con-
tinue downriver to Cougar
Valley State Park east of Ne-
halem. Public feedback will
be used in a recommendation
for or against the designation.
State Scenic Waterway des-
ignations help minimize or
prevent destructive stream-
side logging, dams, devastat-
ing mining, and other inap-
propriate development, while
enhancing fish and wildlife
habitats. Comments can also
be emailed to oprd.public-
comment@oregon.gov
or
mailed to: OPRD Scenic Wa-
terway Study, 725 Summer
St NE Suite C, Salem, OR
97301. The comment period
closes Oct. 13.
MEETINGS
Tuesday, Sept. 19
Seaside Planning Commis-
sion, work session, 6 p.m., City
Hall, 989 Broadway.
mittee, 3 p.m., 989 Broadway.
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Thursday, Sept. 21
Tuesday, Sept. 26
Seaside Tree Board, 4 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Seaside Airport Advisory
Committee, 6 p.m., City Hall,
989 Broadway.
Seaside School District Board
of Directors, 6 p.m., 1801 S.
Franklin, Seaside.
Transportation Advisory
Committee, 6 p.m., City Hall,
989 Broadway.
Wednesday, Sept. 20
Monday, Sept. 25
Seaside Tourism Advisory Com-
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m.,
Tuesday, Oct. 3
Community and Senior Cen-
ter Commission, 10:30 a.m.,
1225 Avenue A., Seaside.
connected with the commu-
nity through donations to the
food bank. So starting in Janu-
ary, he challenged his congre-
gation to do more.
Tyler Evans, a volunteer
with the church, said the office
started greeting people at the
door with blue bags inscribed
with the words “With Love.”
“It’s easier to donate when
you have a reminder,” Evans
said.
Neagle said he made ex-
panding the relationship with
the food bank, which the
church has had since 2012, a
priority because it is an easy,
yet impactful, way to connect
with the community.
“When people offer, some-
times it’s just a few items, and
other times they bring two
bags packed to the gills that
takes two hands to carry,”
Neagle said. “Sharing helps
the person you are sharing
with, but it’s also helpful for
those who are giving the food.
We’re not just trying to give
you a can of food; we’re trying
to share God’s love through
that can of food.”
Children’s ministries di-
rector Annie Utterback said
helping to feed the community
is an important way as Chris-
tians to be a helping hand for
all.
“This is a way for us to
reach out without people hav-
ing to walk through our door,”
she said.
The fellowship plans to
keep expanding its contribu-
tion to the food bank, as well
as local shelters and other so-
cial services, Neagle said.
“It’s about blessing people
where they are at, and show-
ing them love through food,”
worship arts and student min-
istries director Sam Hughes
said.
Meeting a need
An estimated 25 percent of
county residents qualify for
emergency food assistance,
Clatsop County Regional
Food Bank Director Marlin
Martin said, a figure that has
remained steady for the past
five years. More than 6,850
people used emergency food
resources last year.
“We have continued for the
past 11 years to see increases
in the number of emergency
food boxes being distributed
and the number of people vis-
iting food banks, even though
the population hasn’t grown
significantly,” Martin said.
“Those people living in pover-
ty have fallen into deeper cre-
vasses of poverty. We count
each household as individual
visits, and we see the same
households coming more of-
ten.”
Clatsop County isn’t alone.
The Oregon Center for Public
Policy reported last year that
one in six families statewide
lack consistent access to ad-
equate food. Oregon has also
seen the largest increase in food
insecurity, spiking 18.4 percent
since the Great Recession. “We
don’t have enough living wage
jobs for people to meet their
food needs,” Martin said.
To meet this steadily in-
creasing need, Martin said the
regional food bank is working
on securing more funds to im-
plement a mobile soup kitchen
later this fall — much like the
mobile produce bank that has
provided fresh vegetables and
fruits for the past three years.
It’s not a problem Gann
sees going away anytime soon.
But if she can keep handing
out five days worth of food
instead of three, she sees it as
one more way to help people
just make it through.
“I have a passion for food,
and a passion for people,” she
said. “We want to provide as
much variety and choice as we
can for people who visit us,
and donations like this keeps
us from falling into just rice
and beans.”