A4 • Friday, March 15, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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Gearhart fi refi ghters deserve better
SEEN FROM
SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
irefi ghters are great
at saving lives, but
they’re not always as
good at promoting on their
own behalf.
Public relations is anti-
thetical to the selfl ess spon-
taneity that enables some-
one to respond to a call
at 2 a.m., enter a burning
house or forgo evenings and
weekends for training nec-
essary to save not only the
lives of others, but protect
your own, too, in the most
desperate and dangerous sit-
uations imaginable.
Over the past couple of
years, I’ve had the privilege
to write about the heroics of
the Clatsop County strike
teams who leave their homes
and families to volunteer on
the lines, in Ventura County
and Sonoma, California, and
in wildfi res in southern and
eastern Oregon.
Gearhart’s 35-person
department sent seven men
and women to California
to fi ght the most destruc-
tive wildfi re in that state’s
history.
In Paradise, California,
James Hutchinson, Jordan
Chandler, Tanner Rich, Sean
Kirby, Angels Vargas, Kayla
Miller and Lindsey Wolfe
saw images that will remain
with them for a long time:
the remnants of charred
homes, rotting animal car-
casses on roadsides, and the
raw fear on the faces of resi-
dents and homeowners who
had lost everything.
“A lot of us have seen
fatalities and we’ve seen the
devastation before,” Chan-
dler said in November. “But
none of us have seen what
we saw down in Paradise.
It’s on a much larger scale
than anything we’ve dealt
with here. That town will
never be the same.”
Children waited in lines
to thank them for their ser-
vice; community members
F
Gearhart Fire
Members of the Gearhart Volunteer Fire Department.
WHERE TO PUT THE NEW BUILDING?
ASK THE FIREFIGHTERS
Gearhart Remembered
In 1956, Gearhart fi refi ghters battled this blaze at “Cobra
Gardens” on U.S. Highway 101 at the corner of Pacifi c Way.
Many of the snakes survived the blaze, but later died as a result
of asphyxiation from smoke or pneumonia after being left
outside in the cold all night, the Signal reported at the time.
brought them food and sup-
plies, even if they had little
to nothing themselves.
even responded to a fi re at
“Cobra Gardens” — victims
of the fi re were snakes on
display at the building along
U.S. Highway 101.
Gearhart Fire was on the
scene in the aftermath of a
horrifi c plane crash in 2008
that took the lives of two
adults and three children.
I come from New York
City where of the 2,977
people killed in the 9/11
attacks, 413 emergency
workers perished, 343 of
whom were fi refi ghters.
There are Gearhart Fire
Fires, fl oods and snakes
Over the decades Gear-
hart fi re has responded to
fi res, fl ooding and gales, lit-
erally serving as a lifeline
to families isolated by the
storm of 2007.
They’ve made untold
numbers of ocean rescues;
fi refi ghters helped fi nd
countless children and lost
dogs.
In November 1956 they
Department volunteers
today who weren’t even
born then.
When they built the fi re
station in 1958 the word
“tsunami’ was perhaps only
a Sunday Times crossword
puzzle word for what hap-
pened somewhere else.
Nothing has changed
except the science. It’s more
precise and the threat is
more certain.
Station is ‘maxed out’
The fi rehouse is “sagging
about 5 inches and we have
a lake every time it rains
hard,” fi re committee chair-
man Gary Gillam said — in
2017.
Firefi ghters are “maxed
out” on lockers to store
their gear. There’s no space
for new volunteers or even
to have drills. If there’s a
disaster, how will they even
get their gear.”
Sue Lorain, a member of
the original fi rehouse com-
mittee, told me at the time
about cracking cinderblock,
crumbling walls — “not
such a different scenario
from the school,” she said.
Gearhart Elementary
School is closing in spring
2020 — fi refi ghters will still
be in a deathtrap on Pacifi c
Way.
City Planner Carole Con-
nell sent out a revised tsu-
nami map in February —
1,221 Gearhart tax lots are
located in the “medium”
risk zone; 1,861 would be
impacted by a “large” and
2,130 or every property
in Gearhart impacted by
an “XXL” or “extra extra
large.”
Gillam was back at this
year’s town hall. “It’s taken
me three years — or more
— to fully compile the
information shared tonight,”
he said.
Input sought
Three sites are in conten-
tion: the current station, the
city park at North Marion
and Pacifi c Way; and what
is referred to as the High
Point site further north on
Marion.
Gillam and others shared
what they called “ideas and
concepts. They can or will
be altered or changed. We
want to know not just what
you don’t like — but what
you do like.”
The purpose of the strat-
egy, Mayor Matt Brown
said, is to spend the next
three months collecting pub-
lic input.
“I want everyone to tell
me what location they like,
which one they don’t like,
and I want specifi c feed-
back how we can make any
of these locations better or
designs better,” said on Jan.
29. “Pro, con, give us your
ideas. Our only strategy is
to listen for three months.
I want some specifi c feed-
back how we can make any
of these locations better,
these designs better.”
Unoffi cial survey results
show the city park site lag-
ging behind High Point and
the current site, Brown said
at the city’s March 6 City
Council meeting.
Fire Chief Bill Eddy said
“good information” was
presented at the January
town hall.
“Most of this is get-
ting out to the public what
we’ve done so far and what
their feedback is,” he said.
“That’s all we want: their
feedback.”
The decision of where to
place the fi re station remains
with the people of Gearhart,
he added. “If the people feel
the park is where they want
to put the station, that’s the
direction they’re going to
go. If they like one of the
other locations, that’s where
the city will go. The peo-
ple are going to direct where
this location is going to be.
It’s not going to be the city.
It’s going to be the people,
the citizens of Gearhart.”
Does he have a
preference?
Eddy paused.
“All I know, is I don’t
really care for it to be in
this (current) location again,
mostly because of the tsu-
nami problem. One of the
other two locations are fi ne.
Even here, if it gets to be a
worst-case scenario, I guess
this is better than nothing.”
County shelter pets need your love
Yearning for a visit to
my childhood home
VIEW FROM
THE PORCH
hanks to Jack Nichol-
son, bucket lists have
become fashion-
able. So last week I made
a list. I would like to visit
Thomas Wolfe’s memorial
in Asheville, North Caro-
lina. or take the boat ride
to Catalina Island or be a
part of the crowd at a Steel-
ers and Browns football
game, but most of all I want
to go home again. I want to
revisit the house in Toledo,
Ohio that I grew up in 70
years ago. Perhaps you’re
asking why would anyone
want to do that? The termi-
nally nostalgic or as lyricist
Dave Frishberg put it: “peo-
ple with a psychopathic
involvement with the past.”
I drive by my old house
every time I am in Toledo,
but I want to go inside. I
want to know what it is like
to step back in time real-
izing that several genera-
tions have made changes at
4108 N. Lockwood. This
urge is more than just a nos-
talgic trip. I want to test my
memory. Could I climb the
stairs, turn right, and fi nd
my bedroom? Will the size
of the rooms inside match
my recollection? Is the liv-
ing room, the dining room,
and the kitchen where I
remember? And what hap-
pened to the coal eating fur-
nace in the basement that
EVE MARX
very day as I walk
with my dog past
Ken’s Market on
Avenue U, I pause at the
Clatsop Animal Assis-
tance poster taped up inside
the grocery store window.
I look at the sweet faces
of two dogs, Callie, and
Doug, and linger on the
calico cat, Rayne.
A quick check of the
shelter website informed
me that Callie is a young
Rottie mix described as
playful and snuggly. I
watched a video of her
playing ball with a volun-
teer; the shelter staff says
Callie is well-trained and
intelligent; she prefers
to be the only dog in the
home.
Doug is a handsome
one year old cattle dog/
heeler mix. He’s blind in
one eye, which to my mind
gives him a debonair pirate
look. It’s easy to see he just
wants to play.
Rayne is a calico
domestic shorthair; she’s
delicate and pretty as
because she’s an older girl,
she just wants a nice lap
and a quiet home.
Lately on their Face-
E
Because Rinaldo was so tiny, the shelter had him housed
with the cats.
book page, Clatsop Animal
Assistance has been post-
ing adoption success sto-
ries. I fi nd them endlessly
uplifting. In fact I search
them out and read them
when I’m feeling a bit
down. They recently shared
the story of a previously
shy cat named Flower
whose new family reports
has developed an adorable
feline sense of humor.
A small, black dog the
shelter christened Kimmy
was adopted by a family
who renamed her Lucy; the
dog is now the best friend
of the family’s 10 year old
daughter who is doing a
4-H project called “Classy
Canines” with her. Little
Lucy it turns out is a cham-
pion hiker and has climbed
Kings Mountain in the Til-
lamook National Forest
Cathedral multiple times.
Zoe, a 25-pound mixed
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
breed, was adopted in Dec.
2018 by a man who lost
his partner of 47 years. The
man said after his loss he
was overcome with grief,
but Zoe has been helping
him get better. He said hav-
ing Zoe in his life has been
transformative. I love read-
ing these micro stories.
They reaffi rm my belief
that loving and being loved
by animals can change the
dark to light.
My family has been
into rescue for a long time.
We rescued fi ve cats over
the years and eight years
ago, a 10-year-old Chi-
huahua. The dog was an
owner surrender; when we
got him, he was seriously
underweight and mostly
toothless.
Because he was so tiny,
the shelter had him housed
with the cats. We met him
the day after Christmas; it
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
Jeremy Feldman
John D. Bruijn
ADVERTISING
SALES
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
April Olsen
Carl Earl
Skyler Archibald
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Esther Moberg
Joshua Heineman
was brutally cold. The dog
was wearing a tiny sweater
and was curled up under a
towel. He was depressed.
When we spoke to him, he
barely lifted his head. With
two dogs and two cats at
home at the time, we had
no plans to adopt another
pet.
We’d only gone to the
shelter to make a dona-
tion. It was an impulse to
take a look. We brought
him home and changed his
name to Rinaldo and he
lived on for seven years,
a highly entertaining and
always loving rapscallion
to the end.
The next time you see a
Clatsop Animal Assistance
poster (and they are every-
where), take a moment
to consider bringing new
love into your life. Dogs
and cats fi nd their way to
the shelter for all sorts of
reasons; sometimes their
owner is forced to move
and can’t fi nd housing that
accepts pets. People lose
their jobs; they no longer
can afford to feed their pet.
Sometimes the owner has
died. The great majority of
these animals have expe-
rienced love and training
before they arrived at the
shelter. All they want is a
second chance for a good
life.
Clatsop Animal Assis-
tance is located at 1315 SE
19th St., Warrenton.
T
OUT OF
MY HEAD
BOB DIETSCHE
my Dad and I used to feed
each night? Is there still a
place in the backyard where
grass would never grow?
I get a rush just think-
ing about it, but with some
apprehension. What is it
going to be like when I step
inside, where the past and
present are there all at once
like an episode out of the
Twilight Zone?
I want to know what the
current owners think about
my old house and why they
bought it. I want to know
what they think about the
neighborhood and Whittier
Elementary where I went
to school. Does it still have
great teachers like Ms. Dry-
fus, Ms. Moon and Ms.
Atkins ?
I thought a lot on how to
make this happen. I can’t
out of the blue just knock
on the door. My friend April
has a better idea: She said,
“fi nd out the names of the
current residents on Goo-
gle and ask them if they
would be willing to let you
have a one hour tour at their
convenience.”
News at 11.
Seaside Signal
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