The latest news stories and stories of interest in Eugene-Springfield area and around the state of Oregon from the online digital home of the valley, WillametteValleyMagazine.com.
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Willamette Valley Weather
Today A chance of rain before 11am, then a chance of showers after 11am. Widespread smoke, mainly before 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Wednesday A 20 percent chance of showers. Areas of smoke. Mostly sunny, with a high near 73. Calm wind.
Thursday Showers likely, mainly after 11am. Patchy smoke. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Friday Showers likely. Patchy smoke before 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 68.
Saturday A chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 69.
Today’s Headlines
Firefighters continue pursuing the Holiday Farm Fire east of Springfield and report that it is now estimated at just 6% contained. The fire is raging and now about 166,573 acres, as of Monday.
With 745 firefighters working on the fire, “Our fire officers have to be confident that if fire pushes on that line it’s not going to go over it,” said information officer Damon Simmons. “Barring a wind event or something, that line is going to hold if it is tested by fire. That’s when they are going to declare it contained.”
Currently, 23,456 structures are threatened and some people are missing.
Officials said good progress was made toward protecting structures in the Highway 126 corridor. They are continuing to improve fire protection for homes. Extended mop up operations are underway in the southwest part of the fire — Goodpasture Loop and Deerhorn Road.
Fire crews have been able to construct direct control lines adjacent to the fire’s edge and indirect control lines farther back. Burnout operations were successful in the southwestern corner of the fire to establish a solid control line.
The White House has approved an emergency declaration for the state. The declaration will provide assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Oregon and includes temporary housing for displaced evacuees. There will also be an opportunity for additional fire resources.
Current evacuation levels:
- LEVEL 3: From the intersection of Camp Creek Road and Highway 126 east to milepost 47, including all roads north and south of the highway (East and West King Road, Caddis Lane, Mill Creek north of Highway 126, and McKenzie River Drive west of the Community Center. And all of Deerhorn Road.
- LEVEL 3: East of the Mohawk River from Wendling Road to the county line, including Wendling Road, Paschelke Road, HIleman Road, Bunker Hill Road and Mohawk River Road and their connecting roads.
- LEVEL 2: McKenzie River Drive east of the Community Center.
- LEVEL 2: Highway 126 east of Harbick’s Inn at milepost 47.
- LEVEL 2: McKenzie Bridge Campground to the junction of highway 126 and 20.
- LEVEL 2: Entire Mohawk Valley to the Linn County line.
- LEVEL 2: Highway 126 to the intersection with Camp Creek Road, including Camp Creek Road, Upper Camp Creek Road and Cedar Flat Road.
- LEVEL 1: Mohawk Valley west of Marcola Road south of the intersection with Hill Road.
- LEVEL 1: Fall Creek, Winberry, and Lowell areas north from Hills Creek to Signal Point Boat Ramp.
- LEVEL 1: All residents from Highway 126 to Bob Straub Parkway to Jasper Road east to Thurston Road where it intersects with Highway 126 north to the McKenzie River.
Near Glide, Oregon, here is the latest on the Archie Creek Fire. The Douglas Forest Protective Association says the fire is now estimated to be 121,379 acres. Containment is at 15%.
EVACUATION CENTERS
People seeking shelter should contact the fairground office at 541-440-4394. For information on shelter for horses and large animals, contact the Douglas County Parks Department at 541-440-6040. For pets, contact Saving Grace at 541-672-3907.
The American Red Cross is working with the Salvation Army. An emergency shelter has been set up at Douglas Hall at the fairgrounds. For information, contact the former at 541-344-5244 and the latter at 541-672-6581.
There are 708 people on the fire at this time. Additional resources were expected to arrive on Sunday. Air resources are at the ready for when the smoke clears. Crews are continuing to work on Highway 138E clearing hazards. The road remains closed to non-fire traffice between milepost 17 and the junction with Highway 97.
A total of 109 homes have been lost.
The following areas are under evacuation orders:
LEVEL 3
- Banks Creek Road to Hinkle Creek Road
LEVEL 2
- Nonpareil Road from Plat K Road west to Gassy Creek
- The community of Glide from the Green Bridge east to Little River Road
- Green Bridge in Glide upriver to the Narrows Wayside (Idleyld Trading Post)
- Lone Rock Road
- Terrace Drive
- Upper Terrace Drive
- Bar L Ranch Road
- Little River Road from Highway 138E to Buckhorn Road
LEVEL 1
- North Bank Road from 13767 North Bank Road west to the east North Bank Bridge
- Nonpareil Road from Plat K to Banks Creek Road and all side roads
- All of Single Tree Lane
- All of Rivershore Drive
Deputies and troopers are patrolling residential areas to deter criminal activities during the evacuation period. Residents are asked to report any suspicious activity.
Fire officials expect improved conditions will give firefighters a chance to build containment lines around the Riverside Fire and Beachie Creek Fire this week. Both fires continue to threaten homes.
County officials declined to give a timeline for when evacuation orders will be lifted. Fire officials said some fires won’t be fully knocked out until late fall or even winter.For people to return home, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said they want to ensure people have electricity, running water and emergency services.In Marion and Clackamas counties there are evacuation notices currently in place.
Evacuees areeager to return home and are thankful to firefighters and the people volunteering and donating to help displaced families.
This week’s count is three. COVID-19 has claimed two more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 511. Oregon Health Authority reported 151 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of yesterday, bringing the state total to 29,484.
Around the state of Oregon
Half a million people have fled their homes in Oregon as wildfires continue to ravage the state. The Oregon Office of Emergency Management said yesterday that number is expected to continue growing in the coming days. Nearly one-million acres of land are currently burning in the state.
Fire crews continue to focus on protecton of life and property. Evacuation orders continue to change as fire activity and containment levels change; check wildfire.oregon.gov for the latest maps and evacuation levels. Air quality remains at hazardous levels down the I-5 corridor and the Columbia Gorge. Red Flag Wanings for high winds remain in effect in parts of Jackson, Lake and Klamath Counties.
The Brattain Fire is currently burning on the Paisley Ranger District of the Fremont-Winema National Forest. It is currently burning approximately 10 miles south of Paisley in sagebrush-juniper with stringers of ponderosa pine in steep, rugged terrain with limited access points and high winds. As of Monday it was estimated to be 30,000 acres with no containment.
Containment line has been established in the northeastern area of the fire along Hwy 31. Patrols continued work in the northeast and east to reinforce black line and protect property. Dozer work in the southern portion of the fire made significant progress and crews continued structural protection work in these areas. The most significant fire growth occurred on the northwest perimeter as the fire crossed the Chewaucan River in the evening. Additional fire resources were assigned to this area due to fire spread.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality extended its air quality advisory through Thursday. Local air quality will fluctuate between hazardous and unhealthy. Some symptoms, like dry cough, sore throat, and difficulty breathing can be caused by both wildfire smoke exposure and COVID-19. At least 10% of statewide emergency department visits since last Thursday were due to asthma-like symptoms. For those who are feeling anxious or depressed, with the compounding traumas of wildfires, smoke and COVID-19, Little recommends touching base with behavioral health resources, such as Klamath Basin Behavioral Health and The Klamath Tribes Youth and Family Guidance Center.
Three major US cities being wreathed in smoke from massive wildfires now have the worst air quality of any big cities in the world, according to a monitoring group.
The air is so full of smoke in Seattle and San Francisco, it’s at ‘unhealthy’ levels, according to the Air Quality Index. But in Portland and Salem, things are significantly worse. The air there is ‘very unhealthy,’ meaning that anyone breathing it in, ‘may experience more serious health effects.’ According to IQAir, a group which tracks global air quality, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco have the worst air quality of any major cities around the world. But things are even worse outside of the big cities, according to the EPA’s own air quality index trackers.
Large swaths of Oregon, Washington state and even parts of British Columbia in Canada are experiencing ‘hazardous’ air quality. The EPA says the air quality in Salem, Oregon’s capital, is so bad that people need to stay indoors and reduce activity levels.
An Oregon sheriff says authorities are searching for a person suspected of setting eight suspicious fires around the communities of Sweet Home and Brownsville early Monday morning.
The area is about 60 miles southwest of a large fire that wiped out numerous communities in Oregon’s Santiam Valley and forced thousands to evacuate. Linn County Sheriff Jim Yon says deputies are searching for a 1990s Nissan pickup truck that’s either white or silver with a black canopy. The truck was seen in the area of one of the fires. Meanwhile, authorities say a homeless man with mental health issues was arrested early Monday on suspicion of starting seven small brush fires in Portland, Oregon, in the past 24 hours. Police say 45-year-old Domingo Lopez Jr., was arrested on charges of reckless burning and disorderly conduct after starting a small brush fire with a Molotov cocktail Sunday afternoon. He was arrested again early Monday morning on six additional counts of reckless burning after police say he lit multiple fires west of Interstate 205.
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission said on Sunday that it is suspending the liquor license for Rogue Jet Boat Adventures, alleging that the company was not enforcing social distancing or face coverings at a large gathering.
On September 10, the OLCC issued an Order of Immediate License Suspension to the licensee of Rogue Jet Boat Adventures in Jackson County for violating public health social distancing and face covering requirements. OLCC says the business holds liquor sales licenses, yet is “not allowed to sell or serve alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption or sell any alcoholic beverages for off-site consumption.” It says that on September 4, the OLCC responded to and monitored an event in Central Point adjacent to the Rogue River on property controlled by Rogue Jet Boat Adventures; it says the event itself was organized by a third party, Jefferson State Outfitters. OLCC staff observed more than 200 people in attendance, some not wearing face coverings or social distancing as required by State guidelines. The Commission says alcohol servers under control of Rogue Jet Boat Adventures also were not wearing face coverings or maintaining social distancing requirements. This immediate license suspension is the third OLCC has issued to alcohol licensees for failures to comply with face covering or social distancing requirements.
Environmental icon George Atiyeh remains missing after the Beachie Creek fire destroyed his home near Lyon last week.
Atiyeh’s daughter Aniese Mitchell took to Facebook Friday night to announce her family has officially listed her 72-year-old father as a missing person in the Beachie Creek fire. Mitchell tells the Oregonian she last spoke with her father a week ago Monday night, and that he’d been determined to stay in his home despite the fire. Atiyeh is known for his work to block the U.S. Forest Service from clear-cutting the old growth forests around Opal Creek in the Willamette National Forest. Congress passed legislation in 1996 protecting the area from logging.
Thanks to requests by state leaders for federal funds allocated by members of Congress to provide training in advance of wildfire season, more than 300 members of the Oregon National Guard were trained in July by the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) as wildland firefighters.
This training was pro-actively offered by DPSST at the request of Governor Brown and the Oregon National Guard so that our State’s citizen-soldiers and citizen-airmen could be activated and deployed much faster should the need arise for their assistance. The current wildfires around the state show the importance of this pro-active training as three teams of Oregon National Guard members have been deployed to date. DPSST has provided refresher training on the use of emergency fire shelters to those being deployed (photos attached).
The training offered at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem earlier this year is often known as “red card” training and consists of both classroom and hands-on sessions. The training provided is the same training required of all public and private wildland firefighters.
The Oregon National Guard has a proven track record of supporting wildfire suppression efforts, from the air and on the ground, around the state in recent years. In 2015, members of the Guard assisted with wildfire suppression efforts in John Day and Enterprise. In 2017, more than 400 citizen-soldiers and citizen-airmen supported Oregon’s firefighting efforts (air and ground) at High Cascades Complex (near Crater Lake), Chetco Bar, Blanket Creek, Horse Prairie, and Milli fires.
As part of the State’s coordinated and comprehensive wildfire suppression efforts, the Guard has a long-standing agreement with the Oregon Department of Forestry known as Operation Plan Smokey, which stipulates the details of how Guard members will be utilized to assist in annual firefighting efforts if needed. This agreement is reviewed on an annual basis by both agencies and the Governor’s Office.
DPSST is preparing to train more than 200 additional members of the Oregon National Guard later this week in case their assistance will also be needed. This training will take a week and will be held at Camp Rilea in Warrenton due to air quality conditions at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem. Due to staffing needs created by wildfires around the state, DPSST is recieving assistance from instructors from the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute and the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management.
DPSST Director Eriks Gabliks said “DPSST is honored to help support this important mission that has a proven record of success in training over 1,000 members of the Guard for wildland firefighting duties over the past five years. We value and appreciate the partnership we enjoy with the Oregon National Guard and the deployment of three teams of citizen-soldiers and citizen-soldiers on short notice shows the importance of the federal funds made available by Congress for the training our agency was able to provide.”
A Marion County, Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison today for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, announced U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams.
Mark William Osburn, 39, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release by U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut.
According to court documents, on September 23, 2018, an Oregon state trooper stopped Osburn after observing him commit several traffic violations. Osburn gave the trooper a fraudulent Washington State driver’s license in another man’s name. A records check revealed that the other man had an Oregon concealed handgun license, proving that the license Osburn produced was a fake. Troopers searched Osburn’s car and found ten fentanyl pills, approximately 74 grams of methamphetamine, and a pistol.
In a separate incident in December 2018, Salem Police officers executed a search warrant at a local motel room after receiving information that Osburn and his girlfriend were selling drugs out of the room. Officers found and seized methamphetamine, user quantities of cocaine and heroin, digital scales, several firearms, ammunition, counterfeit currency, fake identification cards, and $2,300 in cash, among other items. Officers also found a shotgun in Osburn’s vehicle.
Osburn told investigators that he and his girlfriend had been living in the motel room for two months. He admitted to using and selling methamphetamine, and claimed to have sold up to a kilogram of methamphetamine in a 24-hour period. He further admitted to trading drugs for firearms.
Osburn was charged with two counts of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine; two counts of felon in possession of a firearm; one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; and one count each of possession of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine. On February 8, 2020, Osburn pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of actual methamphetamine, and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm. Osburn has an extensive criminal history that includes six prior state convictions for delivering methamphetamine.