Friday, February 1, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Submitted photo
Gearhart fi refi ghters joined the Clatsop County Task Force in fi ghting California wildfi res.
Gearhart fi refi ghters respond far and wide
By EVE MARX
For Seaside Signal
The Gearhart Volunteer
Fire Department delivered
its annual report to the City
Council in January.
The report covers incident
volume both within the city
and the Gearhart Rural Fire
Protection District, along
with mutual aid responses to
the fi re departments of Sea-
side, Warrenton, Cannon
Beach, Olney, Lewis and
Clark, Elsie Vinemaple.
The Gearhart Department
also sent crew to distant fi res,
including the South Valley
fi re in Moro; the Memaloose
#2 fi re in Wasco County; the
Stubblefi eld fi re in Gilliam
County; the Substation fi re
in The Dalles; and the Camp
Fire Complex in Chico,
California.
In 2018 there were 495
fi re incidents in the City
of Gearhart, a 48 percent
increase in incident response
volume in the last 10 years.
The department calcu-
lated 13,906 hours were
spent in 2018 training per-
sonnel, including fi re, med-
ical and wildland personnel
for incident response.
To compare 2018’s 495
incidents, in 2017 there were
492 incidents; in 2015 there
were 397; in 2012 there were
300; in 2008 there were 259.
According to the the
department report, the most
notable change for the depart-
ment over the years has been
mobilizations to fi res far out-
side the city of Gearhart and
the Gearhart Rural Fire Pro-
tection District.
Prior to 2017, mutual aid
was more the norm, with
personnel traveling no fur-
ther than Astoria, Manzanita,
and Hood River. Since 2017,
teams have been mobilized
to the Eagle Creek Fire in the
Columbia River Gorge; The
Chetco Bar Fire in Brook-
ings; the LNU Complex Fire
in Santa Rosa, California;
and the Thomas Fire in Ven-
tura County, California.
Unifi cation, sewage drive annexation process
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
City residents receive
fi re, police, water and sew-
age, among other services,
while people under county
jurisdiction are served by
other entities.
The annexation could
offer a chance for property
owners along the Necan-
icum River to hook up to
city sewer. Right now, many
of those properties are on
septic systems, with the
potential for contamination
should those systems fail,
City Manager Mark Win-
stanley said.
Without
annexation,
development would be
limited.
“The development of
the property is going to be
restricted by the fact that
there’s not sewer in that
area,” he said.
City councilors asked
staff to address potential
costs for property owners
facing annexation.
It could be a trade-off,
Winstanley said. Clatsop
County residents served by
Seaside Fire & Rescue, for
example, now pay an assess-
ment for fi re services.
“If they come into the
city, they’ll still be covered
by the same fi re department,
but the city taxes will pay for
Tiff any Boothe/Seaside Aquarium
A longnose skate washed ashore in Seaside’s Cove.
Longnose skate at the Cove
Seaside Signal
The Seaside Aquar-
ium reported a large skate
washed ashore at the Cove.
“Upon closer examination
we were able to determine
that the four-foot skate was
a female longnose skate,”
the aquarium’s Tiffany
Boothe said.
The skate had been very
close to laying an egg cas-
ing — often referred to as a
mermaid’s purse— about 5
inches long and still in the
process of developing.
Longnose skates can
reach a maximum size of
4 1/2 feet and can live for
more than 20 years. They
are bottom feeders which
have adapted a unique
way of capturing prey by
pouncing on top of their
victims and pinning them
to the ocean fl oor.
Other local fi nds include
larger moon jellies litter-
ing the shore line, half of a
small male California sea
lion skull and a hatched-out
egg casing from another
type of much smaller skate,
the black skate.
BUSINESS
Directory
TIRES/WHEELS
D EL ’S O .K .
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Same great service
YOUR #1 SOURCE FOR TIRES
CUSTOM WHEELS • AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES
Hours:
Mon-Fri 8-6
Sat- 8-4
503-325-2861
35359 Business Hwy 101
For emergencies
503-325-0233
Astoria, OR
(miles crossing)
City of Seaside
Homeowners within the annexation area have shared their thoughts on the process. Three
public hearings will follow.
FLOORING
CCB# 205283
fi re services at that point and
they no longer will be in the
rural fi re district,” he said.
Residents now under
county jurisdiction would
see an increase of about
$1.80 per thousand of their
home’s assessed value,
Assistant City Manager Jon
Rahl added.
DINING
on the
NORTH COAST
Luxury vinyl planks and tile.
you walk on
our reputation
Flooring
Installation
3470 Hwy 101 Suite 102 • Gearhart, Oregon
503.739.7577 • carpetcornergearhart.com
Great Restaurants in:
GEARHART • SEASIDE
CANNON BEACH
Excellence in family dining found
from a family that has been serving
the North Coast for the past 52 years
Great
Great
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Homemade
Breakfast, lunch and
pasta,
Clam
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but that’s
dinner
steaks &
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not all...
menu,too!
seafood!
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FLOORING
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AVAILABLE
Window Treatments, Fabric, Designer Wallpaper, Visit Our
Counter Tops, All Flooring and Miele Vacuums
Outlet!
2311 N. Roosevelt Dr., Seaside, OR 97138 • 503-738-5729
rlflooring @ yahoo.com • www.RandallLeesFlooring.com
Randall Lee’s Flooring Outlet • 3579 Hwy 101 Gearhart • 503-738-6756
Warehouse pricing • Open to the Public • Hundreds of instock rolls & remnants • In House Binding
Seaside • 323 Broadway • 738-7234 (Open 7 Days)
Cannon Beach • 223 S. Hemlock 436-2851 (7am-3pm Daily)
Astoria • 146 W. Bond • 325-3144
MAZATLAN
M E X I C A N R E S TA U R A N T
Join the “Treasure the Beach” beach cleanup the fi rst Saturday
of every month.
Beach cleanups
every fi rst Saturday
Seaside Signal
Seaside Aquarium, City
of Seaside, Seaside Down-
town Development Associ-
ation, Inn at Seashore, and
Solve presents the 14th year
of “Treasure the Beach”
beach cleanup.
Organized cleanups will
take place, rain or shine,
the fi rst Saturday of every
month from 9 to 11 a.m. A
cleanup takes place Satur-
day, Feb. 2.
Sign in at the Seashore
Inn on the Beach, 60 N.
Prom, Seaside. Get your
bag, and when done, drop it
by trash receptacle along the
Prom.
CONSTRUCTION
B oB M c E wan c onstruction , inc .
E xcavation • u ndErground u tiitiEs
r oad w ork • F ill M atErial
s itE P rEParation • r ock
owned and operated by
M ike and C eline M C e wan
503-738-3569
34154 Hwy 26, Seaside, OR
P.O. Box 2845, Gearhart, OR
Phone 503-738-9678
S erving the p aCifiC n orthweSt S inCe 1956 • CC48302
1445 S. Roosevelt Drive • Seaside
LANDSCAPING
WANNA KNOW WHERE THE LOCALS GO?
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
BEST
BREAKFAST
IN TOWN!
• Lighter
appetite
menu
• Junior
Something for Everyone menu
Fish ‘n Chips • Burgers • Seafood & Steak
Friday & Saturday - Prime Rib
Lounge Open Daily 9-Midnight
All Oregon Lottery products available
1104 S Holladay • 503-738-9701 • Open Daily at 8am
Laurelwood Compost • Mulch • Planting MacMix
Soil Amendments
YARD DEBRIS DROP-OFF
(no Scotch Broom)
503-717-1454
34154 HIGHWAY 26
SEASIDE, OR
Laurelwood Farm