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.
Thursday, July 8, 2021
Klamath Basin Weather
Fire Weather Watch in effect until July 8, 08:00 PM PDT
Today Widespread smoke, mainly before 2pm. Sunny, with a high near 91. Overnight patchy smoke, with a low around 56. Windy overnight to 20 mph.
Friday Widespread smoke, mainly before 2pm. Sunny and hot, with a high near 99.
Saturday Sunny and hot, with a high near 102. Calm wind.
Sunday Sunny and hot, with a high near 103.
Monday Sunny and hot, with a high near 100.
Today’s Headlines
5:00PM update
CHILOQUIN, Ore. – The Bootleg Fire grew more than tripled in size on the Chiloquin Ranger District of the Fremont-Winema National Forest. The fire is burning on Fuego Mountain approximately 11 miles northeast of the town of Sprague River.
The fire is now estimated to be 16,000 acres with no containment. It was reported around 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
An emergency closure is now in effect for the Bootleg Fire area on the Fremont-Winema National Forest. While the fire is burning on the Chiloquin Ranger District, the closure includes part of the Bly Ranger District as well.
The closure area is on National Forest System land between Forest Road 4542 on the western edge, along Forest Road 45 on the northwest and northern edge and Forest Road 46 making up the rest of the northern border, then south on Forest Road 27 to the junction with Forest Road 3462, heading west to the junction with Forest Road 3445, then south to the Forest Boundary. The closure area follows the Forest Boundary west to Forest Road 44, following the road north to the junction with Forest Road 4542.
Additionally, Forest Road 44 is closed from Sprague River Road east to the junction with Forest Road 4542.
The closure order is formally referenced as 06-02-21-03. It went into effect tonight and is in effect until conditions allow or December 31, 2021, whichever occurs first. There will be public notifications when the closure order is lifted.
Area residents and Forest visitors are asked to avoid the fire area and related roads while suppression activities continue. Anyone driving in the area should watch for increased traffic and vehicles associated with wildland firefighting.
Violations of the closure order are punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000 for an individual or $10,000 for an organization, or imprisonment of not more than 6 months or both.
The fire is burning in steep, rugged terrain in mixed conifer and lodgepole pine. Fire behavior is extreme and includes running, torching, and spotting. Movement and fire growth today was observed to be moving mostly to the south and southeast.
Numerous resources are assigned to the fire and are on order. Northwest Team 10, a Type 2 Incident Command Team lead by Incident Commander Al Lawson, arrived in the area this evening and will be taking command of the fire at 6 a.m. tomorrow.
Today firefighters continued to gain intel and access points to the fire. Throughout the day, they were strengthening roads and continuing to use indirect firefighting tactics. The Klamath County Structural Taskforce started protection measures for private properties in the area.
The fire area continued to see hot, dry conditions and winds today, contributing to extreme fire behavior. There is a Red Flag Warning from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow for strong, gusty winds and low relative humidity in South Central Oregon, including the Bootleg Fire.
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.
The fire is still only burning on National Forest System lands. However, multiple structures are threatened east of the fire.
Following are the current evacuation levels, at the request of the Bootleg Fire Incident Commander, issued by Klamath County Emergency Management:
- Level 2 (GET SET)
- Two properties located northeast of the fire. Level 2 is notice that the danger has dramatically increased and they need to be prepared to leave at any moment.
- Level 1 (GET READY)
- 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.
- Residents north of Drews Road between Sprague River Road near the town of Sprague River and Godawa Springs Road north of the town of Beatty.
For the latest evacuation information, visit https://www.facebook.com/KlamathCountyGov. To sign up for Klamath County alerts, visit http://alerts.klamathcounty.org.
South Central Oregon is continuing to have an active and early fire season. Area residents and visitors are asked to use extreme caution with anything that could spark a wildfire. Suspected wildfires should be reported immediately to 911.
Klamath Falls resident Ruby Reid has built up a quiet but fierce resilience. It’s been a necessary quality for Reid, a survivor of the Cutoff Fire in Klamath County last month.
One of the first major fires of the season in Oregon, it burned nearly 1,300 acres before being brought under control. That included Reid’s 5-acre bee apiary in Bonanza. But it wasn’t the first, or even second fire that has destroyed everything Reid owned.
She and her fiance, Chris Day, lost their home and urban vegetable garden in Talent, Oregon in the Almeda Fire last fall. She also lost all of her possessions in an apartment fire at the age of 19.
Reid and Day moved to Klamath Falls last September after the Almeda Fire ravaged the Rogue Valley, destroying their home in Talent along with their business inventory, preserving tools, and a robust honey harvest, all bottled up and ready to sell.
There are six new COVID-19 related death in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,788. Oregon Health Authority reported 273 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of yesterday , bringing the state total to 209,764.
Both Klamath and Jackson counties reported 11 new covid cases yesterday.
The Assistance League of Klamath Basin received Oregon Community Foundation’s $15,000 grant exclusively supporting its signature philanthropic program, Operation School Bell.
This support will provide access to clothing and other necessities for students grades K-12 who need assistance in purchasing these items. The goals of the assistance league are to promote health, learning, school attendance and self-worth. In partnership with the Oregon Community Foundation, leveraged local resources have met the needs of the Klamath Basin at a time most needed.
The following mentioned funds specifically supported Operation School Bell’s $15,000 grant: Green Springs Fund of Oregon Community Foundation ($10,000); and Harris Fund for Children of Oregon Community Foundation ($5,000).
A summer star party will be offered at nightfall on Sunday, July 11, at Little Meadows near Crescent.
The free astronomy event, hosted by the Klamath County Museum, will be located behind the Fuel Commander station on Highway 97 in Crescent. Participants should plan to arrive around 8:30 p.m. Telescopes will be set up for viewing. Volunteers will be on hand to point out summer constellations and deep sky objects.
For more information contact the Klamath County Museum at (541) 882-1000.
YREKA, Calif, July, 8, 2021- Fire activity has continued to be limited to the consumption of dead and down fuels within the 2009 Tennant Fire footprint, as well as isolated torching of juniper trees.
Due to the improvement of weather conditions overnight, fire behavior is predicted to be limited to smoldering fuels within the perimeter of the Tennant Fire, Resources have been methodically conducting mop-up operations to reach the objective of 100% containment. The threat to the control lines should diminish each day as any available fuel within the interior is consumed and crews increase the depth off of their mop-up.
As of 6 A.M. July 8th, the Tennant Fire has burned 10,580 acres and is 81% contained.
Another significant heating trend is expected heading into the weekend with high temperatures returning into the upper 90s to near triple digits for lower elevations. A dry and unstable air mass will also accompany the heating leading to weakened over night humidity recoveries along with a potential for a Haines index of 6.
Evacuation Warnings are in effect for areas surrounding the Tennant Fire. Up-to-date information regarding evacuations can be viewed at an interactive map managed by the Siskiyou County Office of Emergency Services: https://arcg.is/1CrfH40.
The cause of the Tennant Fire is still under investigation.
Fire information can also be found on Facebook @KlamathNF, Twitter @Klamath_NF, and InciWeb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7584/.
Around the state of Oregon
Police in Medford shot and killed a man Wednesday while responding to an alarm at a local business. The man was shot just after 3 a.m., police said in a statement.
Officers dispatched to the alarm call found evidence of a forced entry at the business and confronted a man armed with a knife, police said. No officers were hurt. The agency did not release more details, citing the ongoing investigation. Oregon State Police is investigating the shooting.
Gov. Brown Orders Oregon State Agencies To Cut Water Use Amid Drought
Gov. Kate Brown issued an executive order directing state agencies to cut back on watering their lawns, among other conservation measures.
Oregon state agencies will have to limit water use on lands and at facilities they manage under an executive order issued by the governor Wednesday.
Gov. Kate Brown is directing state agencies to refrain from watering lawns, washing windows and running fountains at state office buildings and other facilities. The governor’s order also imposes a moratorium on the installation of new “non-essential” landscaping at those facilities.
Brown’s directive comes amid a punishing drought that’s reached every corner of the state.
“Many state agencies already have taken steps to improve the sustainability of their operations, including actions to reduce water usage,” Brown said in a press statement.
“Through this Executive Order, state government can respond to this growing crisis, lead by example, and show Oregonians that drought is a serious issue — but one that can be managed if we all work together.”
The governor has declared drought emergencies in 19 counties as of Wednesday.
Several local governments in Oregon, including the city of Bend, have urged residents to take steps to conserve water by limiting outdoor use. The city has said voluntary water use reductions now could reduce mandatory restrictions later.
Outdoor water use accounts for almost a third of daily residential water use nationwide, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that number is higher in hot, dry regions, especially during the summer.
Nearly 80% of consumptive water use in the U.S. is for farming, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
New Report Details Disparate Impacts of the Pandemic Recession in Oregon
The acute onset and depth of the pandemic recession was unlike anything seen previously in Oregon. What was a healthy economy lost 286,000 jobs in two months’ time. The impacts were not evenly distributed, with in-person, service-based sectors experiencing significantly higher rates of job loss.
- Unemployment spiked to a record high of 13.2% in April 2020.
- Taken together, leisure and hospitality, other services – including hair salons, repair shops, and other personal services – and private education accounted for nearly half (48%) of all jobs lost in the initial economic shock.
- While most sectors began rebounding from the initial pandemic recession job losses, local government – and public education in particular – did not, continuing to shed jobs as the pandemic wore on.
Leisure and hospitality in particular employed more women, more of Oregon’s young workers, and more Black, Indigenous, and workers from communities of color than Oregon’s economy overall. Other hard-hit sectors also tended to have more women and more low-wage workers. These Oregonians experienced disparate job impacts of the pandemic recession in 2020.
- The Hispanic or Latino workforce was overrepresented in leisure and hospitality jobs.
- Leisure and hospitality, other services, and education all had higher shares of women, and higher shares of minimum-wage jobs.
- More broadly, all sectors of Oregon’s economy lost jobs in the initial downturn. Lower-wage earners saw the greatest job losses in nearly all of them.
Disparate impacts to these workers show in Oregon’s unemployment claims (UI) data. They’re also reflected in the benefit payments that served as a safety net to displaced workers and business owners under public health restrictions.
- While regular unemployment claims surged across all demographics, it happened to an even greater degree to for women than men during the pandemic recession.
- Similarly, Oregon’s younger workers (ages 16 to 24) had claims volume rise to a greater degree than for other age groups.
- Hispanic or Latino workers’ share of unemployment claims did not rise during the pandemic, despite having higher shares of workers in leisure and hospitality.
More details are available in the full report at QualityInfo.org.
File a claim for unemployment benefits, go to Oregon.gov/employ or call 1-877-FILE-4-UI.
Find jobs and training resources at WorkSourceOregon.org. Equal Opportunity program — auxiliary aids and services available upon request to individuals with disabilities. Contact: (503) 947-1794. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, call 711 Telecommunications Relay Services. Oregon Employment Department
James Courtright has been named as acting district ranger for the Siskiyou Mountains Ranger District for up to a four-month period while hiring occurs for the permanent District Ranger position.
Courtright comes to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest from the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, where he works as the deputy forest fire management Officer. He has an undergraduate degree in fire ecology, management and technology from the University of Idaho. He is a second-generation Forest Service employee and has grown up, lived and work in some of the greatest places in the western states.
James spends his off time exploring with his wife and three kids. He brings with him a depth of knowledge in fire/fuels management and partnering with state, local, tribal and community stake holders.
The job losses created by COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns did not have an equal impact on all Oregon workers, both in terms of job sector and by demographic. According to a new report from the Oregon Employment Department, women, young workers, and people of color disproportionately lost their jobs when lockdowns began last spring.
Prior to the pandemic, Oregon was riding an economic high, with job numbers at record highs and unemployment at a record low. But everything changed once COVID-19 reached the state and Governor Kate Brown began introducing measures intended to slow the spread — a phenomenon that unfolded with relative uniformity across the country, at least in those initial stages.
Between February and April of 2020, Oregon lost roughly 285,500 nonfarm payroll jobs, a decline of 14.5 percent. Unemployment skyrocketed to a record high of 13.2 percent by April.
Unsurprisingly, job losses prevailed in the leisure and hospitality sector, in addition to services like hair salons, repair shops, and private education.
Medford Railroad Park Opening Again
The Medford Railroad Park is opening this month for the first time in almost two years after the volunteer-run establishment was closed throughout 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Last year, it was really a chance to do lots of work because there wasn’t anybody here. But without the support of the public, we wouldn’t be able to get where we are to keep it open,” said Railroad Park Board of Governors’ Secretary Tam Moore. The park has been resorting to cans and other recyclable bottle drops for money to make ends meet. It will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on July 25 as an initial run, and then regular public openings for August, September and October will be on the second and fourth Sundays of each month from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Moore says it feels like they have finally made it through to the other side. “We have, except that we lost some members of our four clubs in the meantime. So we’re looking for new recruits – people who would like to join these hobbies,” he said.
Making matters worse, the park has had to deal with break-ins and thefts of some of their most expensive model trains. The city of Medford is installing additional lighting and security cameras to prevent future incidents.
“There are always changes that go on at this park. There are significant changes going on here at the Garden Railroad Park,” Moore said. “They need to make sure that the track is safe. All of this heat works on the track and we’ve got to make sure that it’s put together correctly and that they can safely run trains there.”
Moore says that while it’s been difficult to watch the park sit unused, everyone involved was content to err on the side of caution when it came to coronavirus protocols, and they have no regrets. The four groups that run the park on a volunteer basis are the Medford Garden Railroaders, Southern Oregon Live Steamers, the Southern Oregon Railway Historical Society, and the Rogue Valley Model Railroad Club.
“We don’t anticipate problems with getting ready on time, but we may be shorthanded and we’re asking people to be patient when they come to the park. We may not have nearly as many trains running as they expect from past visits to the park,” Moore said.
Jack Fire grows to 2,395 acres in North Umpqua Canyon
A wildfire burning in southern Oregon continued to show explosive growth, with new maps putting the fire’s size at 2,395 acres by Wednesday morning in the North Umpqua Canyon east of Roseburg.
The Jack Fire brought level 2 and 3 evacuations Tuesday while closing Highway 138 for 15 miles in both directions beginning at the small outpost of Steamboat in Umpqua National Forest.
The highway closure blocked access to places such as Diamond Lake and Crater Lake National Park from Roseburg. A recreation closure is expected today in the area, which is popular for rafting, hiking and fishing.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act Tuesday afternoon to bring additional resources to the fire.
“It is evident that this fire season is rapidly under way,” Brown said. “We all need to do our part to help the many firefighters battling multiple fires across Oregon.”
The evacuation map can be found here.
The fire was reported at 5 p.m. Monday and grew quickly. It was attacked by local firefighters, who have since been joined by a type 2 federal firefighting team.
Level 3 evacuations — meaning “go now” — were issued for all homes, businesses and campers from mile marker 43 to Eagle Rock Campground, between Glide and Diamond Lake. About 28 addresses were impacted.
Mitchell, OR– The Lewis Rock Fire held for the second consecutive day and remains at 440 acres. Containment has reached 15 percent. Crews were assisted by a rotation of several helicopters cooling hot spots near containment lines. Today, firefighters will continue to strengthen lines around the fire’s perimeter and to mop-up towards the interior to extinguish hot spots and prevent spot fires.
Weather conditions remain a concern with high temperatures, low relative humidity, and gusty winds. Poor humidity recovery overnight could promote more active fire behavior. The approach of a cold, dry front this afternoon could potentially further challenge the firefighting effort due to shifting winds.
John Day, Ore. – Firefighters on the Dixie Creek Fire, near Prairie City, continue to make progress mopping-up the fire. The 541 acre fire is now 75% contained. There is very little smoke visible within the incident. The increased containment has allowed the fire to release resources from the incident to mobilize to other fires across the state and to return home for rest. Several interagency hotshot crews were among those resources released, these crews were integral in providing leadership on the incident, working with less experienced firefighters to provide improved methods in the mop-up process.
Crews continue to grid across the fire, with most of the work complete in the divisions with lighter fuels. Today resources will focus on areas of heat in the timbered part of the fire. These larger fuels are more challenging to get completely cooled. Firefighters are using skidgines and water cats to distribute water across the fire for mop-up.
Mop-up is a slow tedious process where firefighters use water and tools to stir areas of heat until they are cool to the touch. The risk of fire moving outside the fireline is reduced as firefighters mop-up from the edge of the fire perimeter moving further into the interior of the fire.
NWCC Blog for more information: http://nwccinfo.blogspot.com/
FEMA To Cover Cost Of Last Year’s Labor Day Wildfire Cleanup
The U.S. government will reimburse the state of Oregon 100% of the costs it incurred for debris removal and “emergency protective measures” related to the Labor Day wildfires last year for a 30-day period, the state’s delegation to Congress announced Wednesday.
U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden, U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader and Suzanne Bonamici, all Democrats, said they pushed the White House four times before it decided to pay the costs.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency would also reimburse Oregon for the money it spent on emergency protective measures, which included evacuations and setting up operation centers.
Since cleanup and other recovery efforts are ongoing, the state will identify the 30-day period in which FEMA will reimburse it. Here are the counties that will receive reimbursement from FEMA
Emergency Protective Measures:
- Benton
- Clackamas
- Columbia
- Coos
- Deschutes
- Douglas
- Jackson
- Jefferson
- Josephine
- Klamath
- Lake
- Lane
- Lincoln
- Linn
- Marion
- Multnomah
- Tillamook
- Wasco
- Washington
- Yamhill
Debris Removal:
- Clackamas
- Douglas
- Jackson
- Klamath
- Lane
- Lincoln
- Linn
- Marion
- Tillamook
Permanent Preventive Measures:
- Clackamas
- Douglas
- Jackson
- Josephine
- Klamath
- Lane
- Lincoln
- Linn
- Marion
- Tillamook