News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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"Rehab" is beginning even as firefighters have a tough time on the eastern edge of the massive North Star fire, where Interior Dept. Secretary Sally Jewell appeared Monday to visit state and tribal leaders during a push to educate Congress on a need for a different funding model for such fires. The scale of the fires that have burned across about 20 percent of the Colville Indian Reservation made a good backdrop for Jewell to make her case that fighting such catastrophic fires ought to be funded... Full story
We’ve had long, hot fires in this area before, but none that afforded us such an opportunity to get to know how the machinery of firefighting works in this country. As the season heated up and it became obvious resources were in far too short supply, watching what fires demanded the most and how they were used became necessary to grasping the complexity of the decision-making process. Firefighting teams move about the country to fires where their particular skills are needed, which changes constantly. Teams are supposed to work in 14-day s... Full story
[UPDATE 5:20 p.m. 9/2] As of this morning, the closest point between the North Star and Tunk Block fires was on the southern end of the fire. It was about 2.5 miles apart on the south end along the highway 155 corridor. On the north end, near the Aeneas Valley, the fires are about 10 miles apart, said Stan Hinatsu, the lead public information officer for North Star and Tunk Block Fires. He said the break in weather had allowed crews to build a fireline closer to the actual fire perimeter with the goal of protecting structures and minimizing... Full story
Fire crews are gaining on the fires with help from the weather and more resources, including troops, who were visited by a four-star general this week. On Monday, Interior Dept. Secretary Sally Jewel will visit the North Star Fire as the administration proposes changes to the way wildland fire fighting is funded in the nation. "Fire seasons are becoming longer and more intense," Interior stated in a press release announcing the visit. "The Obama Administration has called for a new funding...
We held a memorial last week for my friend, Wally Loe. I would like to share a few thoughts about him. First, I would like the family to please accept my dear and sincere condolences. His legacy started a long time ago. He was our basketball coach at Coulee Dam High School. In 1963, our first year of being a “Class A” school, we took our school to the state tournament in Tacoma. It was also the time our gymnasium turned north and south. All of our school and community remember the season, the players, and the circumstances leading up to the... Full story
Recently, my truck’s water pump went out near Deep Creek. We were on our way home and it was about 4 p.m. on a Saturday. I called our local NAPA store (Tri-City Auto Parts) for their advice, and it was a good thing I did. Within a matter of minutes, they got me hooked up with a NAPA Service center in Airway Heights, who fortunately have a tow truck. Another thank-you to Barbara King for driving to Deep Creek to pick us up. On the following Monday, we drove in and picked up the truck. So I wanted everyone to know just how much I appreciate o... Full story
At 150,000 acres, the North Star Fire is still threatening Nespelem and, now, Republic. More resources to fight the fire are being added each day to fight the fire, occurring in what Incident Commander Rich Nieto called “epic conditions, historical conditions” at a community meeting Saturday at Lake Roosevelt Schools. But it’s been slow getting the resources that would normally be added quickly, only because of the hundreds of fires throughout the dry West. Officials said the fire was the larges single fire burning now. That doesn’t include... Full story
A Coulee Dam-based effort to help out firefighters on the North Star Fire is catching on like wildfire. It started with a GoFundMe effort to raise money for a continuing effort to supply baked goods and other small items that fire- fighters might need. But it has expanded to include minor medical supplies to the growing force based at the Nespelem Community Center and to other fire-fighting centers, said Glo Carroll, who with her husband Rob started the site and organize deliveries. A small... Full story
Mona Berland is in a red zone, ordered to leave, just like everyone else at Owhi Lake. She’s not going to, but she’s convincing her neighbors they must in advance of a day firefighters are saying could go badly. On Thursday, wind in the Nespelem area was blowing from the south, holding the then-75,000-acre North Star Fire at bay. But since then, the fire has grown to more than 150,000 acres, and the town of Nespelem is still in danger. And Berland’s home east of town is still in the immediate evacuation zone. Hurting from fibromyalgia at 64 ye... Full story
In the midst of smoke and flame, a rising beam of hope shows a promising path, one that will need our focus in the months to come: the desire good people have to help. That desire is striking in the experience of Rob and Glo Carroll, whose own desire to help led them to set up a GoFundMe page to which donations have been coming in steadily for a week. Their effort supplies normally self-sufficient firefighting organizations with items they need but find hard to get amid the massive, thinly-stretched firefighting efforts across the West. They... Full story
Reducing stigma. Someone wants to promote a “stigma”? and keep part of it? and you offer them space? Curious. Harold A. Maio, retired mental health editor Ft Myers, Florida... Full story
[UPDATED 2:07 p.m.] State Route 155 is closed between Nespelem and Omak again as the Tunk Block Fire approaches the highway, a Friday report from Colville Tribal Emergency Services said. And Okanogan County Emergency Management announced new Level 3 (immediate) evacuations for the north, middle and south forks of Gold Creek, Gold Creek Road Loop Road due to rapidly advancing fire, with instructions to evacuate to SR 153 to Twisp or Pateros. Also, a level 3 evacuation order has been issued for Hi...
Information from the newly transitioned incident command on the North Star Fire is somewhat limited this morning, but the fire seems to have topped 200,000 acres. It's about 3.5 miles north of Nespelem and three miles south of Republic with strong winds currently blowing north, plus some rain currently over the fire. The image here is a composite of wind and rain indications on the Radar Plus app on an iPad. The North Star Fire Incident Command just out refers people needing road closure...
UPDATE 12:23 p.m. 8/19/15: New evacuation orders were just issued for Nespelem from the Mount Tolman Fire Center. Their information release follows: A LEVEL 1 EVACUATION: The LEVEL 1 Evacuation area includes: Level 1 – A Level 1 Evacuation means ALERT. Residents should be aware of the danger that exists in their area, and monitor local media outlets for information. Residents with special needs (such as a susceptibility to breathing problems in wildfire or those with animals/pets) should take n... Full story
With most of Nespelem in level 2 evacuation status, Coulee Medical Center has accepted several residents of the Colville Tribal Convelscent Center, and the hospital has set up an incident command center to be ready for more should the need arise. "As part of a mutual aid agreement we have accepted a number of residents from the Colville Tribal Convalescent Center as they have been evacuated," a CMC press release stated this afternoon. Friends and family are welcome to visit, but are asked to sign in for a visit. While "operations at CMC are...
Good people of the coulee area have already sought a way to donate clothing and other items for any evacuees from the fires, but the Red Cross shelter at the school is not the place to take them. Stepping up to fill that role is the American Legion Post 157 in Electric City, which will take such donations in clothing and other necessities, or in cash, to give to people in need because of the fire. The post doesn't have manpower to staff the center all the time, but will meet people there...
Mona Berland is in a red zone, ordered to leave, just like everyone else at Owhi Lake. She’s not going to, but she’s convincing her neighbors they must in advance of a day firefighters are saying could go badly. As I write this at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, winds in the Nespelem area is blowing from the south, holding the now 75,000-acre North Star Fire at bay. But tonight, they’ll probably turn around, experts say, and tomorrow the town of Nespelem could be in real danger as a coming northern front billows the fire from northwest toward the town...
The North Star Fire grew by only a few thousand acres today to a little over 78,000, reported lead Public Information Officer Iris Estes, just coming out of an end-of-day briefing about 9 p.m. tonight at the Nespelem Community Center. With 331 personnel now working the fire, the fight has gained priority on a national list, and the state mobilized it yesterday; it's in the pool for shared and shifting resources, coordinated through the the state's Emergency Operation's Center. Today more people...
Update: The River Road remains open but evacuation has been ordered from highway 155 at Omak city limits out to the Kartar Valley and to Camp Progress Road and highway 155. Residents in that area are instructed to go to Brewster and not wait for door-to-door notification. Update on North Star fire: The Tunk fire In the Okanogan Valley area has jumped Highway 155 near Omak, and the highway is now closed from the Colville Indian Agency to Omak. A detour is available on the river road. Fire...
[UPDATE 9:45.a.m 8/22] Initial reports indicated that the Tunk Block Fire and North Star Fire had merged, however this proved to be inconclusive. When more precise mapping is available, fire managers will able to more accurately determine the perimeters of the fires. The size of the fire is estmated at 126,522 acres, but it is "very difficult to verify where the fire edge is due to smoke and fire behavior," a management report states. [Earlier report] A community meeting on the now 108,000-acre...
Local areas and local businesses can tap into a powerful, internationally recognized brand that brings to mind "camping," chamber of commerce members were told recently, and it's free. The emblem for the National Park Service brings that idea to mind because the agency has set the trend globally, said Dan Foster, superintendent of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. "People who see that emblem anywhere in the world know that you can go to that location and expect a degree of... Full story
The owner of a local quilt shop has co-authored a quilt-making book published by the American Quilter's Society (AQS). You may remember Marlene Oddie's "Rosie's BOMb" quilt, which hung in the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center last year during an exhibit featuring strong women. It won a second-place prize in the society's Des Moines, Iowa, AQS Quilt Week in 2013. That's where co-author Leila Gardunia met Oddie and the two discussed pushing the skill-builder concept, which Gardunia had originally pu... Full story
by Scott Hunter The towns of Wilbur and Creston, and every place in between, lost electric power service for a dozen hours Saturday night. A wildfire six miles west of Spokane, near Coulee-Hite Road, reportedly affected BPA electrical towers on the Grand Coulee-Bell transmission corridor. Driving across the plains from Spokane was eerie, with no lights on at farms or at the rest area on SR-2 at just after 9 p.m. Creston and Wilbur were also dark, with only vehicle lights and solar-powered garden pathway lights providing any illumination.... Full story
Grant PUD will begin conducting a survey of potential wireless network customers in Grant County this month. Those who receive the survey, which is being mailed to about 10,000 customers in proposed wireless locations, are asked to fill out a postage-paid postcard and return it to Grant PUD. The utility said in a press release that the survey informs customers of Grant PUD’s plan to expand its wireless Internet network to rural parts of the county. The survey then asks customers how they are currently connecting to the Internet, as well as t... Full story
The city of Grand Coulee took an encouraging step last week, appointing an employee to the job of enforcing city codes. That means someone at the city will be charged with talking to people whose properties don’t meet those codes, such as “nuisance ordinances,” which basically prohibit the kind of unsightly messes some properties end up displaying for any number of reasons. For a long time, the city has been less than enthusiastic (and, at some points in the past, downright hostile) about such an enforcement policy. Because of that, value... Full story