The latest and most comprehensive coverage of local News, Sports, Business, and Community News stories in the Klamath Basin, Southern Oregon and around the state of Oregon from Wynne Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM / 102.5FM, The Herald & News, and BasinLife.com, and powered by Mick Insurance, your local health and Medicare agents.
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Klamath Basin Weather
Fire Weather Watch in effect from July 8, 02:00 PM PDT until July 8, 08:00 PM PDT
Today Sunny, with a high near 90. Calm wind becoming west northwest 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. Overnight will be clear with a low around 57.
Thursday Sunny, with a high near 90.
Friday Sunny and hot, with a high near 99.
Saturday Sunny and hot, with a high near 100.
Today’s Headlines
Bootleg Fire burning on Chiloquin Ranger District Near Sprague River
The Bootleg Fire has burned over 3,000 acres with no containment yet, burning on the Chiloquin Ranger District of the Fremont-Winema National Forest, on Fuego Mountain approximately 11 miles northeast of the town of Sprague River. It was reported around 1:45 p.m. today and the cause is under investigation.
The fire is currently only burning on National Forest System lands. However, multiple structures are threatened east of the fire.
At the request of the Bootleg Fire Incident Commander, Klamath County Emergency Management has issued a Level 1 (GET READY) Evacuation notice for the Sycan Estates area north of the town of Beatty in eastern Klamath County. Level 1 is notice for residents in the affected area that wildfire is potentially near them and they should begin preparations to leave should the Incident Commander believe further increase in evacuation levels is warranted.
In addition, two property owners closer to the fire area were advised that their properties are under Level 2 (GET SET) evacuation notice. Level 2 is notice that the danger has dramatically increased and they need to be prepared to leave at any moment.
For the latest evacuation information, visit https://www.facebook.com/KlamathCountyGov. To sign up for Klamath County alerts, visit http://alerts.klamathcounty.org
Smoke from the fire is highly visible from Oregon State Highway 140, Sprague River Highway, Chiloquin and the surrounding area.
Drivers should expect increased traffic in the area from fire equipment and are asked to use caution driving in the area. Area residents and Forest visitors are asked to avoid the fire area, including Forest Roads 44, 46 and 3462, as well as Head of the River Campground and Sycan Crossing dispersed campground.
Highway 97 is now open between Weed and Dorris in Siskiyou County following a closure due to the Lava Fire and Tennant Fire.
Caltrans says please be aware that fire and Caltrans personnel continue to work on and around the highway.
Motorists are urged to slow down and drive carefully. Highway 97 conditions are subject to change without prior notice, due to fire activity.
The Lave Fire northeast of Weed is up to 71% containment and is 25,001 acres. Fire crew estimate the Lava Fire could be fully contained by next Monday, July 12th. Meanwhile, the Tennant Fire south of Mount Hebron in Siskiyou County is now 10,541 acres and is 53% contained. Fire crews estimate the Tennant Fire will be fully contained by the end of July.
Meanwhile, Crews are responding to a wildfire west of Davis Creek near the South Mountain Reservoir in the Modoc National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service said. The Juniper Fire is up to 350 acres with multiple ground and air resources are on the scene.
The Forest Service said to avoid the area and be aware of increased traffic. Smoke is working up into the Lakeview area and Lake County.
WILDFIRE UPDATES from BasinLife.com:
Bootleg. OR-FWF-210321. ICT3. 15 mi NW of Beatty, OR. Start 7/6. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 3,000 acres. 0% containment. Extreme fire behavior. Timber and brush. Evacuations in effect. Road closures. IMT2, NW Team 10 (Lawson) has been mobilized with in brief scheduled today at 1100.
Jack Fire. OR-UPF-000265. IMT2, NW Team 9 (Goff). 20 mi E of Glide, OR. Start 7/5. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 1,400 acres (+900). 0% containment. Active fire behavior. Timber and brush. Structures threatened. Evacuations in effect. Road closures.
Lewis Rock. OR-952S-021160. IMT1, ODF Team 3 (McCarty) 4.5 mi S of Mitchell, OR. Start 6/30. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 440 acres (+0). 15% containment. Active fire behavior. Timber and grass.
Dixie Creek. OR-952S-021187. ICT3. 3 mi NW of Prairie City, OR. Start 7/03. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 541 acres (+0). 75% containment. Moderate fire behavior. Timber and brush.
Rattlesnake. OR-WSA-000037. IMT3. 12 mi NE of Warm Springs, OR. Start 6/30. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 5,479 acres (+0). 97% containment. Minimal fire behavior. Grass. Structures threatened. Road, trail and area closures. No new information at this time.
There is one new COVID-19 related death in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll at 2,782. Oregon Health Authority reported 85 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of yesterday, bringing the state total to 209,494.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (3), Benton (5), Clackamas (63), Clatsop (4), Columbia (7), Coos (5), Crook (2), Deschutes (24), Douglas (26), Hood River (1), Jackson (31), Jefferson (3), Josephine (17), Klamath (1), Lake (1), Lane (47), Lincoln (1), Linn (39), Malheur (2), Marion (35), Multnomah (68), Polk (21), Sherman (1), Tillamook (2), Umatilla (12), Union (5), Wasco (7), Washington (21) and Yamhill (9).
Oregon has now administered 2,553,609 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,748,032 first and second doses of Moderna and 171,120 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 125, which is 15 fewer than yesterday. There are 29 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is one more than yesterday.
Kasey Ryan Crain, 41, is being held on at least 250-thousand dollars bail on a multitude of charges.
No information is available as to the circumstances of the arrest, but Crain is lodged at the Klamath County detention center on charges of robbery, coercion, strangulation, assault, unlawful use of a weapon, identity theft, and unauthrozied use of a motor vehicle, amongst others. Several failure to appear charges are also listed.
Oregon’s death toll from a record-smashing heat wave over weekend topped 100 people in the state on Tuesday as more reports came in to the state medical examiner.
Of the 107 deaths recorded so far, the youngest victim was 37 and the oldest was 97. In Multnomah County, where most of the deaths occurred, officials said many victims had no air conditioners or fans, and died alone.
Gov. Kate Brown said on “Face the Nation” on CBS News that despite the establishment of cooling centers and water being made available to vulnerable people “we still lost too many lives.”
She called it “absolutely unacceptable.” Brown said there are resources available for people with certain underlying health conditions to buy an air conditioner if they don’t have one. Some residents are calling Brown out for just getting around to talking about the heatwave and cooling centers as Oregon is in it’s third week of 95+ degree temperatures.
Oregon’s daytime temperatures have increased an average of 3 degrees since 1990, an Associated Press analysis of federal data has found.
Summer days and nights have been warming up around the nation over the past 30 years, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show. But some states are heating up more than others, with Oregon near the very top of the list, the AP found.
All the states with the greatest increased in daytime temperatures are in the west, AP found. California, Nevada and New Mexico topped the list, with increases of 3.3 degrees. Colorado and Utah tied with Oregon for fourth place.
The What I Know For Sure Monologue Project is performing this weekend. Four local high school students, two from Klamath Union, one from Eagle Ridge and one from Henley High, as well as five older adults (over 60) have each written short monologues about life changing experiences.
They will perform on Sunday, July 11 at 6 pm and Sunday, July 18th at 2 pm at the Klamath Falls Senior Center, which is at 2045 Arthur Street.
Around the state of Oregon
A 15-year-old girl from Roseburg drowned on Sunday after being swept into an area of rapids on the Umpqua River during a family outing, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Dispatchers received a call for a water rescue near the Yellow Creek Boat Ramp outside of Oakland shortly after 6:30 p.m. that evening.
Responders arrived to learn that 15-year-old Aliya Yazmin Grizzard of Roseburg had been floating on an inflatable air mattress in the Umpqua River with her family. While paddling down the river, Grizzard and her mattress were swept down through a rapid, tossing her into the water. DCSO said that Grizzard was not wearing a life jacket at the time.
Members of Grizzard’s family and bystanders tried to find the girl after calling 911. Someone eventually found Grizzard and pulled her to shore to perform life-saving efforts, but she could not be revived.
Oregon DMV Makes Appointments A Permanent Option
The Oregon DMV is getting back to normal in many respects after COVID-19 restrictions have been eased. But one pandemic-inspired change will stick around.
When DMV field offices reopened to the public last year after the first wave of the pandemic, the agency created an appointment system to prevent crowded lobbies.
Now that social distancing requirements are no longer in effect, the DMV says you can just show up and hope you get served.
But agency spokesperson David House said many customers have said they enjoy the certainty of having an appointment, and he said that option isn’t going away.
“That’s going to be a permanent choice that Oregonians can make to get their in-person services at DMV,” said House.
House said many transactions such as license renewals can now be done online at DMV2U.Oregon.gov.
Masks are no longer required at the Oregon DMV except during driving tests.
103-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Fossil Found Near Mitchell Oregon
A new dinosaur fossil has been found in the state of Oregon.
Excavators discovered a fossilized dinosaur vertebra and they believe it is roughly 103 million years old.
The remarkable find reportedly took place on June 24 and came from a fossil dig that’s been sponsored by the University of Oregon.
Researchers found the vertebra on soil that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an environmental agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Prior to the dig, the University of Oregon’s Professor of Earth Sciences Greg Retallack and a team of paleontological researchers found a dinosaur toe bone in 2015. The find was a first of its kind for Oregon.
Both fossils are estimated to be around the same age and come from an ornithopod – a plant-eating dinosaur species that were bipedal and lived in North America, according to Britannica.
The original toe bone was found near Mitchell, a small city in eastern Oregon, while the newly excavated vertebra led by fossil dig foreman Greg Carr was reportedly found four miles northwest of Mitchell. At this time, it is not clear whether the two fossils come from the same dinosaur.
“University of Oregon paleontologist, Dr. Greg Retallack, along with North American Research Group volunteers, discovered dinosaur bones while conducting a permitted fossil dig and excavation on Bureau of Land Management public lands in Central Oregon. The find is part of Oregon’s first dinosaur discovery,” a spokesperson for the BLM told Fox News via email. “Until now, most fossils discovered in the state have been of mammals and these fossils are of much younger age.”
“It’s important for the public to remember that removal of any dinosaur bone or other fossil bones on Bureau of Land Management public lands is illegal without permits,” the BLM went on to write. “More information will be provided in the coming months.”
Illustration of what ornithopod may have looked like 103 million years ago. (University of Oregon)
While research is still underway for the long-extinct dinosaur, ornithopods are believed to have lived from the late Triassic to late Cretaceous periods. These two eras notably overlapped with carnivorous species such as Eoraptor and Tyrannosaurus, according to London’s Natural History Museum.
Moreover, a University of Oregon spokesperson stated in 2018 that its first ornithopod fossil was an interesting find since the U.S. state was believed to be underwater for most of the dinosaur age.
Oregon Country Fair Goes Virtual for 2021
It is cooler in the Clouds! Join the Fair’s 2nd virtual fundraising event, Fair in the Clouds, on July 9, 10 & 11. No tickets or parking passes to purchase, just come to www.oregoncountryfair.org.
There is no place on Earth like our Fair, but thanks to the cyber fairies we can still gather in the clouds!
Step through the Peach Portal to walk the M8trix, find your friends, see your favorite shows, and support our community of artisans. Once again, the Oregon Country Fair has been rendered in virtual splendor for you to enjoy from the comfort of your mosquito-free home. All you need is your computer or phone, a headset with a microphone, and an internet connection!
Tune-in throughout the weekend to enjoy music, vaudeville, art demos, the Fair in 3-D, connect with Fair friends new and old, and more! This event is free for everyone. Those who can are encouraged to make a donation, choose from an array of fresh, new 2021 Merch, and shop from your favorite Fair Artisans. We look forward to seeing you In the Clouds!