February 2, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A
Tsunami scare a wake-up call
No local alert
was issued
Watch, not advisory or warning
By Brenna Visser
Seaside Signal
After a magnitude 7.9
earthquake in Alaska prompt-
ed a tsunami watch for the Or-
egon Coast in the wee hours
Tuesday, Jan. 23, Clatsop
County Emergency Manage-
ment Director Tiffany Brown
started getting questions
about why her office did not
issue a local alert.
A tsunami watch means
there is the potential for a
surge to happen but does not
require immediate action.
This differs from a tsunami
warning, which calls for im-
minent evacuation, according
to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
Confusion about the dif-
ference prompted a flood of
emergency calls to Seaside
and Astoria dispatch centers.
Management at Camp 18
restaurant on U.S. Highway
26 reported seeing more than
40 cars of people trying to
evacuate in their parking lot
at 4 a.m.
Brown is the administra-
tor for the local emergency
system, which can send mes-
sages to anyone signed up
through ClatsopALERTS! to
their landlines, cellphones or
emails. Many factors, includ-
ing the time of day and sever-
ity of the earthquake, guided
her decision not to issue an
alert.
Brown said that if the fed-
eral alert had occurred during
daytime hours, her office
would have likely followed
up with some clarification lo-
cally and used the experience
as an educational tool. Be-
cause the tsunami watch was
issued at 3 a.m., and the mag-
nitude and characteristics of
the earthquake did not cause
immediate concern, she said
it did not make sense to wake
people up.
“People don’t always un-
derstand where an alert is
coming from. The alert was
issued by NOAA from one
Where to sign up
SEASIDE PIO
Chart shows different warning threats.
Seaside Signal
Seaside’s Dispatch Center
received 107 non-emergency
line phone calls and 10 911
calls after a tsunami watch.
At about 1:30 a.m. Tues-
day, Jan. 23, a 7.9 magnitude
earthquake struck 174 miles
off Kodiak, Alaska. This im-
mediately triggered a tsuna-
mi watch, not an advisory or
a warning, for coastal areas
from northern Washington
to southern California, in-
cluding Seaside, the city’s
Public Information Officer
Jon Rahl said.
Had this watch risen to
the levels of advisory or
warning, direct messaging
— including use of the city’s
tsunami warning system —
would have alerted residents
of the U.S. tsunami centers,
which was very general,”
Brown said. “On the backside,
I’m getting more alerts from
NOAA that are more granular
— where the danger is antici-
pated, where it is expected to
hit, which at the time the Ha-
waiian Islands were the con-
cern. But if you boil it down
to a broad, surface-level mes-
sage, all you see is ‘Ah! Tsu-
nami warning!’”
Between the false alarm
tsunami sirens issued by Sea-
side and a false missile alert
and visitors by using Nixle
alerts, alarm towers, social
media channels, among po-
tential ways of reaching the
public, Rahl said.
The dispatch center
was carefully monitoring
the event, he added. “If the
event had risen to a level
where tsunami wave ac-
tions were imminent for our
area, the system would have
pushed out messaging indi-
cating as such.”
By definition, a “watch”
means there is the potential
for an event to happen and
details are still unknown.
Next on the scale is an “ad-
visory” which means strong
currents and waves have
been noted. A “warning”
addresses the final level
of notification which indi-
in Hawaii this month, Brown
said being judicious is even
more important to avoid pan-
ic.
“There was nothing to
warn people about,” Brown
said. “There’s enough un-
certainty around the system.
Between Seaside and Hawaii,
this is really bringing mass
notification systems to the
forefront.”
None of the cities in Clat-
sop County decided to issue
any tsunami alerts Tuesday,
for similar reasons as Brown.
OBITUARIES
Willard Asseri Ivanoff
Commercial fisherman
Aug. 11, 1932 — Jan. 3, 2018
Willard Asseri Ivanoff, 85, a lifelong resi- the river and its pristine tributaries, as well as
dent of Astoria, Oregon, died Jan. 3, 2018, at multiple moose trips to Canada.
Oregon Health and Science University Hospi-
Willard loved life and all that it had to offer,
tal in Portland. Mr. Ivanoff was born Aug. 11, including his wife, family, friends, and dogs,
1932, in Astoria, to Asseri and Aina
and he was loved in return. He will
Linnea Aspfors Ivanoff.
be deeply missed at lunch time, but
On March 25, 1957, he married
good for the pocketbooks of many.
the beautiful love of his life, Susan
As most know, cribbage was his
Califf, in Astoria, Oregon.
favorite game. Willard had many
Mr. Ivanoff lived in Astoria his
entertaining stories of his long and
entire life, and was a son of first
adventure-filled life, and he kept
generation Finnish immigrants who
his marvelous sense of humor to the
migrated from the upper Midwest.
very end. He will be remembered
He was a lifelong commercial fish-
for his welcoming and generous
erman, which took him many places
personality.
Willard Ivanoff
including Alaska, Oregon, Washing-
Willard’s lifelong partner, Susan,
ton and California, pursuing multi-
passed away in 2011. He was also
ple species of commercial catch.
preceded in death by his brothers,
He grew up in the throes of World War II, Robert Ivanoff and Bill Ivanoff; and son-in-
and served proudly in the Army during the law, Steven Jacobson. He is survived by his
Korean War. Although the war ended before brother and sister-in-law, Donald and Glenda
he was called to the front, he was an extreme- Ivanoff; a sister-in-law, Nancy Johnson; his
ly patriotic individual who always made a four children, Susie, Renee, John, and Thor;
point to show his support for veterans and all two daughters-in-law, Katrina and Janelle;
branches of the armed forces. He had several son-in-law, Bob Seppa; and grandchildren,
missions late in life that can’t be divulged, but David (Cally) Jacobson, Michelle (Matt)
the people involved know, and witnessed an Spohn, Emily and Jeremy Jacobson, Kelsey
amazing navigator able to find remote places and Zachary Seppa, and Annika and Addison
in the middle of the night.
Ivanoff.
Willard was an avid outdoorsman who
There will be a tribute for a life well lived
loved to dig razor clams, fish for anything on June 3, at 1 p.m. at the Clatsop County Fair-
that swam, and hunted his entire life. Some of grounds.
Memorial contributions may be made to
his most memorable hunts were moose hunt-
ing on the Yukon after driving to Alaska, and the Astoria High School Scholarship Fund and
then boating approximately 700 miles down Clatsop Post 12 American Legion in Astoria.
In future events,
Brown and Benedict
recommend people
follow local sources
of information and
the National Weath-
er Service before
calling 911.
• Sign up for alerts
at www.co.clatsop.
or.us/em/page/
clatsopalerts
• To sign up for
local Nixle alerts,
text 888777 and
type in your ZIP
code. Follow the
Seaside Police
Department,
City of Seaside
and Seaside Fire
on Facebook.
National Weather
Service alerts can
be received by
visiting weather.
gov/alerts.
cates that dangerous coastal
flooding and powerful cur-
rents are likely or imminent.
To sign up for local Nixle
alerts, text 888777 and type
in your ZIP code. Follow the
Seaside Police Department,
City of Seaside and Seaside
Fire on Facebook. Nation-
al Weather Service alerts
can be received by visiting
weather.gov/alerts.
Many sent out statements over
social media that local first re-
sponders were monitoring the
situation. In Cannon Beach,
police and fire officials went
as far as to arrange an Emer-
gency Operations Center with
Arch Cape and Falcon Cove.
“This was a great scenario
to put us through. I’d rather
plan ahead than play catch-
up,” Cannon Beach Fire Chief
Matt Benedict said. “With this
occurring near Alaska, it gave
us some time. We had several
hours to get ducks in a row.”
CITY OF GEARHART
Tsunami evacuation map.
Gearhart responds
to tsunami threat
Seaside Signal
City Administrator Chad
Sweet and Police Chief
Bowman were alerted of a
possible threat and arrived at
Gearhart City Hall around 2
a.m. on Jan. 23, Mayor Matt
Brown said in a city blog
post.
They began their emer-
gency protocols and got
their call lists together ready
to go all the while monitor-
ing the situation closely out
of Alaska, Brown said. From
the information available
they determined there was
no credible threat for a tsu-
nami here.
Seaside and Gearhart’s
warning sirens are a con-
nected system and the Sea-
side emergency managers
determined there was no
threat to the area and decid-
ed not to sound the alarms.
The city continued to mon-
itor the situation in case any
information changed.
At around 3:30 to 4 a.m.,
the USGS lifted the advisory
warning. Staff left city hall
at approximately 5:30 a.m.
after it was determined there
was no emergency.
DINING
on the
NORTH COAST
Great Restaurants in:
GEARHART
SEASIDE
CANNON BEACH
Olive ridley
turtle dies
Seaside Signal
Driven by cold weather
to the Oregon Coast, a fe-
male olive ridley sea turtle
found stranded on Sunset
Beach near Fort Stevens
State Park failed to survive,
staff at the Oregon Coast
Aquarium reported.
Andrew Pittard, a long-
time friend of Seaside
Aquarium staff, found the
stranded turtle on Saturday,
Jan. 27. He contacted staff
member Tiffany Boothe,
who met Pittard at Sunset
Beach.
Oregon Coast Aquar-
ium Curator of Fish and
Invertebrates Evonne Mo-
chon-Collura met Boothe
halfway between Newport
and Seaside to receive the
turtle. Oregon Coast Aquar-
ium staff found the turtle’s
body temperature at 54 de-
grees, then administered flu-
ids and cleaned the wound.
Despite efforts, the turtle
died Monday morning.
Oregon State Universi-
ty will perform a necropsy
to determine exact cause
of death and for data col-
lection. Often in long-term
cold-stun cases, the organs
are compromised beyond
repair, Ocean Coast Aquar-
ium staff said.
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MAZATLAN
M E X I C A N R E S TA U R A N T
Fred Wayne Cole
Todo Santos, Mexico
Jan. 11, 1959 — Dec. 24, 2017
Fred Wayne Cole, 66, of Todo Santos, Mex-
ico, passed away on Dec. 24, 2017. Born Jan.
11, 1959, in Seaside, Oregon, he was the fifth
of seven children born to Mary and Roy Cole.
Fred was preceded in death by his parents,
and is survived by his siblings, Shirleen Hutch-
ens, Diane Schafer, Jim Cole, Pat Boehm,
Judy Knapp, and Roger Cole; 14 nieces and
nephews; and 10 grand-nieces and nephews.
Fred graduated from Seaside High School
in 1969, then took a few classes at Portland
State. He then headed to Alaska for several
seasons of fishing. He came back to the Sea-
side area to log in both Clatsop County and in
Forks, Washington. Fred later drove a produce
truck, assisted in carpentry work, was a com-
mercial clam digger, and worked as a handy-
man and a caretaker for the elderly. He man-
aged the Holliday Apartments for his family.
Fred was a faithful son, brother, and friend.
Ellen and Sandra were special fiends in his
life.
Fred had retired to Todo Santos in 2013,
and enjoyed the warm weather, fishing, and
the wonderful area. Fred was a quiet, kind, and
generous man who will be missed by his fami-
ly and many friends in Todo Santos.
Any memorials may be sent to the local an-
imal rescue.
A celebration of life has already been held.
MEMORIALS
Phone 503-738-9678
Today
1445 S. Roosevelt Drive • Seaside
JENKINS, Mary Evelyn
— Visitation from 1 to 5
p.m., Caldwell’s Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary, 1165 Frank-
lin Ave., Astoria.
Saturday, Feb. 3
JENKINS, Mary Ev-
elyn — Funeral at 11
a.m., Caldwell’s Mortu-
ary Chapel, 1165 Franklin
Ave., Astoria. Burial fol-
lows at Ocean View Cem-
etery in Warrenton.
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