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Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Klamath Basin Weather
An AIR QUALITY ALERT IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM TODAY
Today
Widespread haze between noon and 1pm. Patchy smoke before noon. Sunny, with a high near 82. Light winds to 7 mph. Overnight, hazy smokey skies with a low near 54.
Sunday
Today’s Headlines
A man arrested in Klamath County in December after leading police on a 13-mile chase after allegedly brandishing a gun at a residence while wearing a bulletproof vest was arrested Saturday in Medford after leading police there on another chase after allegedly harassing local ambulance crews.
According to the Medford Police Department, Parker Joseph Latham was allegedly harassing two different Mercy Flights Medical Ambulance crews on Saturday, Aug 16, 2023.
A spokesman for the Medford police said they were not yet sure why Latham was allegedly targeting and harassing ambulances.
Latham is facing weapons, fleeing police, burglary, reckless driving, illegally wearing body armor during commission of crime and while possessing a deadly weapon and menacing charges in Klamath County stemming from an incident in December.
According to the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office, Latham, who lives in Medford, led police on a 12.7-mile chase after showing up at a residence in Midland on Dec. 2, 2022. (herald and news)
Firefighters battling lightning-sparked blazes in northwest California got some help from wet weather, from the coast and from Tropical Storm Hilary.
The Head Fire, the largest of more than 20 that ignited in the Klamath National Forest this week, remained at approximately 5.5 square miles (14.2 square kilometers) after light rain overnight moderated its behavior, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement.
Evacuation orders and warnings for the very lightly populated area remained in place.
The fires were sparked over several days as unstable air brought thunderstorms and lightning to the region just south of Oregon. The Head Fire has experienced rapid growth in the past few days.
The National Weather Service posted red flag warnings for fire danger again Thursday, advising of “abundant lightning on dry fuels.”
To the west, the Smith River Complex of fires in Six Rivers National Forest totaled 6.25 square miles (16.2 square kilometers). Morning rain had also been expected there.
A section of U.S. 199 is closed due to the fire.
The complex fires were among many ignited across the forest and the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation after more than 150 lightning strikes since Tuesday. Most of the fires remained small. A slew of other lightning-caused fires were reported this week in Northern California, including in Mendocino County, Shasta-Trinity National Forest and the Tahoe area, although most were small and quickly contained, fire officials said. (herald and news)
Wildfires burning throughout Oregon and Northern California combined with forecast conditions are causing Air Quality Alerts all over the region, including the Klamath Basin. Air quality levels continue to fluctuate and could be at unhealthy levels for all Southern Oregon counties.
Check current conditions on the Oregon Smoke Information Blog oregonsmoke.org, DEQ’s Air Quality Index, or by downloading the free OregonAIR app on your smartphone.
– Heavy smoke can irritate the eyes and lungs and worsen some medical conditions.
People most at risk include infants and young children, people
with heart or lung disease, older adults and pregnant people.
– Protect yourself and your family when smoke levels are high:
– Stay inside if possible. Keep windows and doors closed. If it’s too
hot, run air conditioning on recirculate or consider moving to a
cooler location. Avoid strenuous outdoor activity.
– Use a high efficiency particulate air(HEPA) filter in indoor
ventilation systems or portable air purifiers.
– Be aware of smoke in your area and avoid places with the highest
levels.
– If you have a breathing plan for a medical condition, be sure to follow it and keep any needed medications refilled. For additional information…please visit the web site at https://oregonsmoke.org (source: nws office/ Medford)
Klamath County Library is wrapping up Summer Reading special events at the downtown library, onThird St., with the Big Truck Petting Zoo today.
A variety of specialty trucks, including fire trucks, and their drivers will be featured and parked around the library.
The free event begins at 10:30AM.
Upcoming Library Events
BADGER RUN RUMMAGE SALE IS SATURDAY, Aug. 26th, Benefitting Wildlife Care in Klamath County
Around the state of Oregon
NWS says it is possible that heavy rain from Tropical Storm Hilary could cause flooding and landslides as far north into central and eastern Oregon.
Hilary made landfall along Mexico’s Baja California coast on Sunday, but the storm’s impact is being felt in Oregon and as far away as Idaho today.
Flood watches are in effect through this afternoon for portions of eastern and central Oregon, including the Grande Ronde Valley, Northern Blue Mountains, Southern Blue Mountains, Wallowa County, Baker County, Harney County, Malheur County, the Lower Treasure Valley, John Day Basin and Ochoco-John Day Highlands, according to the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.
People in these areas should stay alert and travel with extreme caution by assuming roads are unsafe, especially at night. Highly destructive landslides known as debris flows travel faster than humans can run and may carry boulders and logs that put people and structures at serious risk, a spokesperson for the geology department said. (oregon news)
Oregon is one of many states getting extra rain and winds from Tropical Storm Hilary, the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years.
At least a half inch of rain fell on the Klamath Falls area, most of it Monday evening and night. The precipitation was heaviest east of the Cascades, as Medford reported just a trace.
In California it swept people into swollen rivers, toppled trees onto homes and flooded roadways as the massive system marched northward Monday, prompting flood watches and warnings in more than a half dozen states.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded Hilary to a post-tropical storm Monday morning, but warned that “continued life-threatening and locally catastrophic flooding” was expected over portions of the southwestern U.S., along with record-breaking rainfall. There was the potential of flooding in states as far north as Oregon and Idaho. Remnants of the storm were expected to linger at least through Tuesday morning.
The storm dropped more than half an average year’s worth of rain on some areas, including Palm Springs, which saw more than 3 inches of rain by Sunday evening, shattering the previous record of 0.21 inches.
Sunday was the wettest day on record in San Diego, with 1.82 inches, the NWS said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The previous record was on Aug. 17, 1977, when 1.8 inches of rain fell in the area post-Hurricane Doreen. (herald and news)
Happy Camp Complex Fire Update, August 23, 9AM
Fire crews have been taking advantage of the recent changes in the weather and are making good progress on the Happy Camp Complex. Overnight relative humidity recovered to 80-90%, and fire behavior was minimal. The wet conditions have allowed firefighters to construct fire line directly on the edge of most of the fires in the complex.
Firefighters and bulldozers are going direct across the Head Fire’s perimeter, and the fire is 5% contained. Crews are constructing fire lines to the west and south from Collins Baldy Lookout. Crews and dozers have been working across the fire’s south end from Scott Bar, tying in several fingers and islands of unburned fuel along Scott Bar Road. The west perimeter is being addressed by crews working from the north out of Hamburg and the south out of Scott Bar.
The Block and Townsend fires are 100% contained and the Den Fire is 95% contained.
The Gold Fire is 40% contained, and the Scott Fire is 35% contained. Fire line has been constructed down to Scott River, and crews are now working across the north and west sides of the fires. Holding Scott River Road is a priority for this portion of the complex.
The west side of the complex remained active yesterday, and helicopters were used to hold the Canyon Fire in Dillon Creek. The fires on the west side of Highway 96 are slowly backing down to the highway. Structures along the highway have been prepped, and crews are focused on holding fire to the west side of the road. Rocks and debris have rolled onto Highway 96 in the area of Dillon Creek and the highway is currently closed.
Today, on the west side, fire crews will begin working the eastern edge of the Swillup Fire and clearing roads to the north and west of the fire. Helicopters will be used to hold the fire in Dillon Creek. A drone flight is planned to check for additional heat in the Canyon, Three Creeks, Elliot, and Swillup Fires. A tactical firing operation is planned for tonight to bring the fire down to Highway 96. On the east side, firefighters will continue direct attack on all fires.
SEE MORE HERE ON THE HAPPY CAMP FIRES
Happy Camp Complex Morning Update Aug 23
Smoke Outlook NW CA_SW OR_20230823
Pacific Power Working to restore electricity in Crescent City area
CRESCENT CITY, CA (Aug. 23, 2023) – With field crews working around the clock, Pacific Power has provided temporary power to 7,200 customers in the Crescent City area using large generators, with plans to bring more customers online by Wednesday afternoon. Pacific Power’s goal is to provide power to most of Crescent City and surrounding areas by the end of the week.
Due to continued wildfire activity in the transmission corridor serving Crescent City, it is currently unsafe to re-energize the transmission line serving the city and surrounding areas. Pacific Power continues to closely monitor all fire activity in the region and will restore power for all customers when it is safe to do so.
In addition to the large generators, smaller residential generators have been provided for many of our customers with medical needs, and more will be deployed in the coming days.
The distribution and placement of generators has been conducted in close coordination with the Del Norte County Emergency Operations Center (EOC), with priority given to essential services, including the hospital, grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, large retail stores, restaurants and hotels, and to provide power to Medical Baseline Program customers.
Pacific Power has set up two community resource centers (CRCs) (open 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.) for impacted customers that need assistance (charging electronics, receiving information, water, Wi-Fi, air conditioning, non-perishable snacks, seating, security, etc.). They are located at:
- Del Norte High School – 1301 El Dorado St, Crescent City
- Yurok Tribe – 225 Klamath Blvd, Klamath, CA 95548
Hamburg and Scott Bar, California
Pacific Power brought in a generator that is providing power to approximately 240 customers in Scott Bar, California that are outside the evacuation and fire impacted areas. Repair crews are awaiting permission from emergency services to access 110 customer locations in areas affected by wildfire.
Pacific Power has set up a community resource center (CRC) (open 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.) for impacted customers that need assistance (charging electronics, receiving information, water and ice, Wi-Fi, air conditioning, non-perishable snacks, seating, security, etc.). It is located at:
- 19716 State Hwy 96, Klamath River, California 96050
Pacific Power will closely monitor fire activity in all areas and turn the power back on when it is safe. Customers will receive regular updates on the emergency outage via email and text message.
For more details, visit: PacificPower.net/
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek held a symbolic signing ceremony for seven new public safety bills Monday afternoon, touting legislation aimed at cracking down on “ghost guns” and fentanyl, bolstering Oregon’s overloaded public defender system and clearing a backlog at the state’s sole police academy.
The deadline for Kotek to sign bills from the 2023 legislative session has already passed; all of the bills she mentioned at Monday’s news conference were officially signed back in July, but the governor sought to highlight them as a group, declaring that they “represent concrete steps forward to ensure that Oregonians are safe and have trust in their justice system.”
The ghost gun bill was one of two bills targeted by a six-week walkout led by Senate Republicans earlier this year, which ended when Democrats agreed to scale down both pieces of legislation before passage — something Kotek acknowledged at Monday’s news conference, although she didn’t mention the parts that got cut.
The more expansive version of House Bill 2005 would have raised the minimum age to purchase most guns from 18 to 21 and given Oregon cities the option to ban firearms in public buildings, in addition to cracking down on untraceable firearms. The final version only maintains the ghost gun ban, establishing fines and jail time for the sale or possession of 3D printed guns with the serial numbers removed or unfinished gun frames and receivers.
Even the smaller version of HB 2005 ultimately passed the Senate on a relatively narrow vote — in terms of the legislature’s quorum rules — of 17-3, with 10 lawmakers absent or excused. Most of the other bills Kotek touted on Monday passed by large margins in both chambers. (oregon news)
A 25-year-old man is dead after the car he was driving crashed into a tree on Lower River Road near Grants Pass.
“On August 21, 2023, at 7:35 pm, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a small silver hatchback hiding in the bushes near MP 6 on Lower River Road.
The reporting party advised the vehicle would wait for other vehicles to drive by and would rev the engine, which made machine gun like noises,” the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
“A Deputy responded to the area to attempt to locate the suspicious activity. As the Deputy approached the area, he observed a vehicle matching the description travelling eastbound at 90 MPH. The Deputy turned around to attempt to stop the vehicle. As the Deputy came around the corner, he observed a cloud of dust near the roadway and advised the vehicle had crashed.”
According to a Facebook post from Rural Metro Fire, authorities found the car about 30 feet over the embankment after hitting a tree, with the car on fire and two men trapped inside.
There were two men inside the car, the JCSO release said, and the passenger was transported to Rogue Regional Medical Center with major injuries. The driver, Brooks Kimball, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The investigation has been turned over to the Oregon State Police,” the release said. (OSP/KDRV 12)
As Oregon attempts to ease the process for students to transfer from community colleges to public universities, university faculty and academic officers are pushing back against what they see as state overreach.
College and university representatives are in the process of developing transfer maps that will detail which classes students take to seamlessly move from community colleges into popular majors at the state’s public universities. The move is part of a strategy to address what Kyle Thomas, the legislative director of the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission, described as an “intractable, systemic problem.”
The transfer maps are supposed to be assembled primarily by faculty subcommittees on a Transfer Council before the council sends a final recommendation to the state commission.
The commission voted this month to approve several new rules governing that process, which university representatives think give the body too much control. One rule allows commissioners to establish transfer maps without a recommendation from the Transfer Council, but only if the council can’t agree on the map after 18 months of deliberation. Another rule limits universities’ ability to deviate from those pathways unless they can show it benefits students. (oregon news)
A Deschutes County, Oregon woman was sentenced to federal prison for trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl to Oregon for distribution.
Krista Vela, 39, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release.
According to court documents, in November 2020, as part of a broader drug trafficking investigation, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and CODE identified Vela as a key source of supply for a prominent area drug dealer. In early December, investigators seized several pieces of luggage being removed from a hotel room rented by Vela in Sunriver, Oregon. The bags contained drug packaging materials, a digital scale, a GPS tracking device, 15 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 2 kilograms of fentanyl. One of the bags also contained several pieces of paperwork with Vela’s name on them.
Vela’s sentence will run concurrent to an 84-month federal prison sentence imposed on March 16, 2023, in the District of Montana for a separate drug trafficking conviction.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, and CODE. It was prosecuted by Adam E. Delph, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. (US attorney’s office/Oregon)
If you’ve driven between Klamath Falls and the Washington border using Highway 97, you’ve driven through Shaniko.
After 16 years of closure, the Shaniko Hotel, located in Oregon’s famous ghost town, has reopened, this time under the management of the town’s volunteer firefighters.
If that sounds like an unusual arrangement, well, nothing in Shaniko is usual.
Shaniko remains a functioning municipality with about two dozen full-time residents. They practically take turns running the city.
Consisting of a handful of buildings dating to around 1900, Shaniko most likely survives because of its location along U.S. 97, which still brings traffic past the town.
Staff will tell you the hotel is definitely haunted, and it’s hard to tell if that’s because of actual spirits or a sales tactic. It does make an overnight stay more exciting.
While the town is small, Julianne Herman, secretary of South Wasco Fire & Rescue (and also employee of the hotel, and also Long’s girlfriend), said the town’s handful of firefighters responded to about 80 calls last year. Most of those were medical calls and highway crashes (such as the semi-truck that barreled through two buildings next to the Shaniko Hotel last fall.)
Visitors might notice a small blue rubber ball in one of the hotel hallways. Staff says this ball seemingly moves around on its own, played with by an unseen girl whom they call Amelia. Room 14, they said, is supposedly haunted by a woman named Nettie.
Thinking about an overnight stay? Shaniko is 215 miles north on U.S. Highway 97 from Klamath Falls. (oregon news)
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