News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1371 - 1395 of 1840
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
[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
Several fires and a downed aircraft are reported near Oroville off Chesaw Road, and the county alert system has told residents of the Nine Mile and Circle Road areas that "immediate evacuation" is recommended. That alert was issued at 3:08 this afternoon (Aug. 13). People are asked to stay clear of the area about five miles east of Oroville. Sheriff Frank Rogers stated in an email that near one of the fires near the wreckage deputies found at least one dead person. "We have several units in the... Full story
A fire on USBR land near the Delano Transfer Station just after 4 p.m. Thursday was brought quickly under control by Bureau of Reclamation and local firefighters. The small blaze in sagebrush and grass was near a crude road that winds around a few trees. A caller reporting the fire said someone was walking in the area and started it. Firefighters left the scene by 5:05 p.m....
[UPDATED Sunday, 2:15 p.m.] The North Star fire has now grown to more than seven times the size it was Friday night, and it is threatening a regional communicaitons network with equipment atop Moses Mountain. The fire was estimated at 22,000 acres at 1 p.m. As afternoon winds increased yesterday, the fire jumped a dozer line, forcing firefighters to move their staging area in the southeast flank of the fire. They re-established the line during the night. Residents in the North Star and Gold Lake road areas are told to be alert to the danger.... Full story
Voters will not be asked this fall to decide on paying taxes toward the maintenance of North Dam Park, leaders of the park district decided Monday. “I’d love to see us do a levy,” said Coulee Area Park and Recreation District Commissioner Phil Hansen, “but I think we had better put it off.” That was the unanimous feeling of commissioners, who had been considering the tiny junior taxing district’s third attempt to actually collect a tax, having lost two earlier elections. The decision came following commission President Bob Valen’s rep... Full story
A committee focused on local economic development realized a goal last week with the publication of a new booklet that addresses the particulars of living in the Grand Coulee Dam Area. “Tips and Tricks to Life in the Grand Coulee Dam Area” presents practical tips for the “little quirks” of the area, including things that might not be obvious to newcomers or even longtime residents. For instance, a page headed “Slightly odd places to find things you need locally” includes tips on renting a boat, making copies, finding a laundromat, and office... Full story
That big piece of land that so many of us find useful — for walking, playing softball, picnicking, holding reunions and much more — needs to be maintained, and it’s not free. North Dam Park takes some $30,000 a year to maintain, and the community rallied to save it after the city of Grand Coulee decided it could no longer support it alone. Local cities have been drawing from hotel/motel tax funds designated for boosting tourism to help maintain the park where big events are held. That was always seen as a stop-gap measure, in place until other... Full story
Update: Power was restored at just after 9 a.m. Sunday morning, according to a listing of outages on Inland's website, which cites the origin of the problem as a Bonneville Power Administration/Avista transmission line. Original story: The towns of Wilbur and Creston, and every place in between are without electric power tonight (August 8), and according to Inland Power and Light's Outage Center on their website, so is Almira, Davenport and areas as far away as LaCrosse and Newman Lake. Driving... Full story