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Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityheralckcom
August 19, 2015
>N >H>saD>i'>oN: Local • Business @AgLife • Go! magazine Windscontinueto helpandhamperfire elorts
QUICIC HITS
Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Marla Otto of Baker City.
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BRIEFING
BAICER COUNTY
ter s u i n s m o e W e st Nie
Red Cross shelter on standby The American Red Cross has closed its shelter at the Baker City Church of the Nazarene at 1250 Hughes Lane, according to a press release. Red Cross workers will be based at the Red Cross office at City Hall, 1655 First St. They will remain available to reopen the site as needed and Red Cross nurses are available for evacuees who need medical attention. More information is available by calling 541-519-2360.
By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com
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BCLA to consider livestock losses The Baker County LivestockAssociation will meetThursday to continue talking about how to help ranchers who've lost livestock and grazing land in the wildfires burning throughout Baker County. The livestock association will meet at 6 p m. Thursday at GeiserPollman Park. Jake Bingham, livestock association president, saidTuesday that ranchers are still assessing their losses this week. "I would hope any needs would be brought to us so we can see how we can help," he said. For more information, call Bingham at 541-4031735. Some producers attended a Monday night meeting with representatives from the USDA Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Bingham said. Those representatives also are scheduled to attend the Thursday night meeting at the park. Curtis Martin is working through the Oregon Cattlemen's Association in establishing a fire victims relief fund to help all ranchers across Oregon who have lost livestock or grazing land in the fires. Martin said those who would like to contribute to the fund can call the OCA at 503361-8941.
WEATHER
Today
BB /43 Mainly clear
Thursday
BB/45
Kathy Orr/ Baker City Herald
Kim Knox, helicopter manager, coordinates flights out of Baker City Airport. She works with Jay Matsen, Heli Quest air support group supervisor, on which frequencies will be used to order helicopter flights to and from the Cornet and Windy Ridge fires. Knox is from Prineville and Heli Quest is under contract with the federal government through the U.S. Forest Service. By La'akea Kaufman kkaufman©bakercltyherald.com
Gary Wiltrout has been flying planes since he was 19 years old fighting in the Vietnam War. Forty-eight years later, on a smoky morning at the Baker City Airport, you can still find him in the cockpit. Now, he prides
himself on flying the same helicopters asthepresident of the United States. "Except his are a little more spiffy on the inside than ours,"Wiltrout jokes. But Wiltrout's Sikorsky S-61 gets put to a slightly different use than its White House counterparts.
Wiltrout and his co-pilot Justine Jarrell spend their summer days at the control yoke, hundreds of feet above the flames. This week, they've been fighting the Cornet-WindyRidge Complex fire. As of this morning, the Cornet-Windy Ridge Fire has
burned 103,540 acres, and is 45 percent contained. Jarrell, 30, has been fighting fire from the air for nine seasons. Aerial firefighting is a bit of a boys club, she says, but she enjoys the work. See Choppers IPage6A
SEMcrewscontainMorganCreekfire
West Nile virus has returned to Baker County, but so farthediseasehas beenconfi rmed only in mosquitoes. A"pool" of 10 to 50 mosquitoes collected Aug. 12 fromatrap setup about five miles north of Baker City tested positive forthe virus,said Matt Hutchinson, manager of the Baker Valley Vector Control District. The trap is one of 30 that Hutchinson and his crew distribute throughout the 200,000-acre Vector Control District, which includes most of Baker, Bowen and Keating valleys. Hutchinson said earlier this summer that it was quite possible that West Nile would show up here, at least in mosquitoes, since the virus was confirmed during July in Union, Malheur and Umatilla counties in Oregon, as well as in five counties in Western Idaho, including ones that border Baker County. Aug. 12 is relatively late forthe firstpositive testof the virus in mosquitoes. In 2014, for instance, West Nile was first detected in two pools of mosquitoes trapped July 21 in Keating
Valley. A wildfire reported Tuesday morning on Morgan Creek along Brownlee Reservoir burned 108 acres beforebeing contained at 9 p.m. Larry Moore, Bureau of Land Management spokesmand, said this morning that retardant lines have been placedaround the fi re. The BLM fought the fire with four air tankers and one helicopter along with ground crews Tuesday. One home at the junction of Snake River and Morgan Creek roads was saved. Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald The tankers laid down A plane drops retardant on the Morgan Creek fire Tuesday. retardant to stop the fire from burning north into Creek. the fir e had not been deter- and engines remained at Bear Gulch and Hibbard M oore said the cause of mined today. A hand crew the fire this morning.
Fire6ghters save furry hiends from 6re burned and blinded by the kkaufman©bakercityherald.com fire, and was quickly fed with A few furry friends can be carrots from sack lunches listed as found items amid of nearby firefighters and the blackened scraps ofm etal transported to Baker High and charred landscape at School. Baker CountySheriff Stices Gulch. One rabbit, who firefightTravis Ash said he knew just ers have called Courage, and the person to call. "I knew Shelta wouldn't two kittens, who the SherifFs turn any animal away,"Ash department have dubbed Cinder and Ash, were found said."I could probably call at the Gulch on Sunday. Each her about a lizard and she'd of the animals are in serious help me." condition. The bunny was found SeeBunnylPage 5A
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By La'akea Kaufman
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La'akea Kaufman/Baker City Herald
See NilelPage 5A
Man dies in one-car
rollover An 18-year-old Seneca man died in a single-vehicle crash on Highway 26 in GrantCounty Sunday. Leonard John Radinovich, a former Baker City resident who attended Baker High School last year, died when he was ejected from the Toyota 4-Runner he was driving near Milepost152,just west of Mount Vernon, an Oregon State Police press release stated. The crash happened at about 5:15 a.m. Sunday when Radinovich's vehicle veered ofF the highway, rolled, and came torestin a nearby field. Radinovich was not wearing a seatbelt, police said.He died atthe scene. His passenger, a 15 year old juvenile, was restrained and was not injured.
Firefighters saved Courage the bunny in Stices Gulch. See Fatal IPage 5A
Sunny Full forecast on the back of the B section.
T ODAY Issue 44, 16 pages
Business..............1B-2B Comics.......................3B Dear Abby.... ...........10B News of Record... .....2A Senior menus ...........2A Calendar... .................2A CommunityNews....3A Horoscope.... .......BB-7B Obituaries..................2A Sudoku..... .................3B Classified............. 4B-9B C r o ssword........... 6B-7B L e t t ers........................ 4A O p i n ion......................4A We a t her ................... 10B
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