News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Firefighters plumed the area in smoke for a few days over the last week, but their prescribes burns paid off. The Swawilla I Fire encompasses 53, 462 acres and is 94% contained as of about noon Tuesday. The Bridge Creek Fire is 100% contained at 3,998 acres. Its 50 firefighters were to be transferred to the Swawilla I Fire. There are still 556 personnel on that fire, and a change of incident management teams has transitioned to the next phase of fire management. The Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 6 handed the fires off to the Souther...
Wildfires on the Colville Reservation forced people to leave their homes, roads closed, and a ferry to re-open just to help them leave, evacuation centers to open and the burning of more than 51,000 acres on two fires. With a wind shift on the Swawilla I Fire, Colville Tribal Emergency Management early July 24 called for a Level 3 (Go Now) evacuation of Buffalo Lake and McGinnis Lake areas, Belvedere and Seaton's Grove as the fire grew rapidly toward the northwest. Air support increased on...
Official relations between Coulee Dam and Grand Coulee police departments have returned to “status quo” after a meeting of mayors last week. But Coulee Dam Mayor Bob Poch declined to characterize it as a “working relationship,” and Grand Coulee Mayor Ruth Dalton said “there may be” underlying tensions to address, “but that’s for another day.” “In speaking with Mayor Bob Poch, we came to the agreement that mutual aid will continue as necessary,” Dalton said in a phone call Tuesday. “If they need a backup call, they will call for us, and us for...
Temps may be heading right back into the 100s, but you can have it made in the shade this Friday under North Dam Park's ponderosa pine trees as the First Friday summer pop-up market returns this week. The fair is set for Aug. 2 after taking July off in order to focus on Festival of America at the dam. From 4 to 9 p.m. folks can hear live music, relax in a 21+ beer garden, chow at Charro Birrieria, and browse booths of local and regional artists, craftsfolk, and community organizations,...
Young ones enjoy a slip 'n' slide, inflatable sprinklers, and of course, food, at Electric City's Second Annual Community Appreciation BBQ in the grassy park behind city hall last week. City staff and volunteers served up hotdogs and fun as residents, elected officials and staff mingled on a perfect 80-degree day. - Renata Rollins photo...
Update: A Level 3 EVACUATIONS "GO NOW" just issued for residents of Peter Dan Road, McGinnis Lake, Reynolds Resort, Belvedere, and Seatons Grove. Due to increased fire danger from the Swawilla Fire, the current Level 2 evacuations status for your area is now elevated to LEVEL 3 EVACUATION. A shelter is open at Lake Roosevelt High School Gym, 500 Civic Way, Coulee Dam, WA. For information call Tribal Emergency Operation Center at 509-634-7350 or 509-634-7359. There will be a public meeting on...
Bob Valen sent us the time-lapse video above, condensing an hour of smoke and cloud formation above the fire into 30 seconds, shot from across Lake Roosevelt above the Sring Canyon area. Keller evacuated, fire doubles overnight With a wind shift, Colville Tribal Emergency Management early Wednesday called for a Level 3 (Go Now) evacuation of Buffalo Lake and McGinnis Lake areas, Belvedere and Seaton's Grove as the fire grew rapidly toward the northwest. /Users/scotthunter/GCDStar Dropbox/Scott...
Curbside recycling bins could be coming to the Coulee — if at least 300 people are willing to sign up. Residents of the four local towns can expect to receive instructions for a voluntary online survey in city utility bills, asking everything from what seems like a reasonable price, to whether it matters if they offered single-stream (all materials added into the same bin) versus separate sorted bins for plastics, cans, cardboard and so on. Dion Gotti, owner of Sunrise Disposal, the Omak-based company providing curbside trash pickup to the f...
Nespelem School District’s high school will add a 10th grade this year, plus an alternative learning experience program that could push enrollment high enough to add a high school basketball program. The school board Monday night approved hiring Marion Ives and Rowena Antone as coaches for the high school boys’ and girls’ teams. They coached them at the middle school level in the 2023-24 season, superintendent Effie Dean said. The district, which started its new high school program in 2023 with just ninth grade, plans to add 11th grade, then...
Road repairs, closures and detours in commercial districts can be a pain point for nearby business owners – sometimes measurable in loss of revenue if potential customers avoid the area. But the owners of one longstanding business in central Grand Coulee would like to see the lower portion of Spokane Way – closed for an emergency sewer line repair since April – remain closed to traffic permanently. Carrie Riechmann owns the TeePee Drive-In restaurant along with her husband Jesse. She said her family has serious safety concerns after witne...
Nearly a hundred kids attended a Mega Sports Camp organized by Faith Community Church last week, ending in a cool way to conclude a very hot week. The four-day event had community volunteers teaching elementary-age children the basics in football, soccer, basketball, and cheerleading, said Shannon Hitchcock from the church. Hitchcock said the event was also designed to teach several core concepts important in sports and in life in general, including preparation, commitment, endurance, an all-in...
Sunbanks Lake Resort was not de-annexed from Electric City, as incorrectly stated in last week’s report on the fire that started there. The state Department of Transportation building and other lands nearby were, however....
An ambulance makes its way down a freshly paved James Saunders Boulevard into Coulee Medical Center Tuesday evening. Both James Saunders and Fortuyn Road opened for regular access this week, after undergoing total reconstruction beginning May 20. The project involved repaving both streets, as well as installing a sidewalk. Fortuyn remains a one-way street. - Renata Rollins photo...
Increased electricity use among industrial customers led to a new high-load record at Grant PUD during the first week of the heat wave this month. The public utility provided 1,107 megawatts of electricity to customers in the 98823 zip code on July 9. “Every day during that hot streak topped the old all-time record of just over 1,000 MW, set during the sub-zero cold snap in January 2024,” said Christine Pratt, Grant PUD public affairs officer. Energy use for Grant PUD typically peaks twice a year, she said, during the coldest days of win...
A fire that originated at a local resort spread rapidly over a hill separating the resort from the rest of Electric City, but ultimately required all local fire crews, federal wildland firefighters, and air support to suppress Tuesday. Fire calls went out between 2 and 3 p.m., drawing in local firefighters from all stations, and prompting fire chiefs to call for air support. The blaze, which got away from a Sunbanks Lake Resort fire, the origin of which was not clear at the time of this writing,...
If a Grand Coulee officer calls to request backup at the scene of a crime, they can’t count on Coulee Dam PD to respond, according to an email obtained by The Star. In the email from Grand Coulee Interim Police Chief Levi Johnson to Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowden on July 8, Johnson wrote, “It was brought to my attention, you told your officers they are not to assist Grand Coulee Units. I heard this from a couple of our officers. If this is true, I would like to hear it from you.” The next day Bowden confirmed in his reply: “That is corr...
An improved park in Grand Coulee may need a couple more improvements because of increased usage, a city council member proposes. The chair of the city council’s safety committee wants the city to take another look at installing a few more parking spaces next to Grand Coulee City Park, perhaps in the adjacent alley running parallel to Grand Coulee Ave. and Roosevelt Drive. At the council’s June 25 meeting Councilmember Tom Poplawski also proposed petitioning the state Department of Transportation to install a crosswalk with button-activated fla...
Elevated levels of neurotoxin were detected in the middle section of Rufus Woods, according to a monitoring website that tracks toxic algae blooms. A sample pulled June 25 from the "Mid Lake" region of the reservoir showed 13.760 micrograms of anatoxin-a per liter of water–well over the state Department of Health's guidelines for anatoxin-a in "recreational water bodies," which is 1 microgram per liter of water. Anatoxin-a is a naturally-occurring substance produced by cyanobacteria, s...
KELLER – Those who use the Keller Ferry, M/V Sanpoil, across the Columbia River on State Route 21 will need to find alternate routes due to planned closure of the ferry. Planned Keller Ferry closure The closures will begin at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, July 16, and last until the afternoon of Saturday, July 20, in order to make repairs to a support beam on the vessels hull. The damage to the hull was located by marine inspectors with the United States Coast Guard who conducted a required five-year hull exam dive operation last month. Travele...
Grand Coulee volunteer firefighters responded to 526 Wetzel Street for a fireworks-related blaze reported at 8:41 p.m. They were on scene by 8:46. Douglas County Fire Disrtrict 3 also responded. It was one of several fires that burned in region over the last several days. The fire was put out quickly and all crews left by 9:09 p.m., a department Facebook post said. Police at the scene said it was believed to have been started by people under the age of 18 and that no infraction would be issued s...
Triple-digit temperatures over several days can pose a challenge for almost anyone. For those living in homes with inadequate AC, and for people living outdoors, it can be deadly. “More people die from extreme heat than extreme cold,” said Molly Morris, team lead at Grand Coulee’s STAR Hub, a division of Rural Resources Community Action. “We are not strangers to this type of heat, but when it first occurs each year we have to reach back to our early training on how to cope.” With the current h...
Searchers on Tuesday recovered the body of a young man missing in Banks Lake since Thursday. From Tacoma, Daniel Ciobanu, 28, and his wife had been riding a paddleboard near Coulee City when a breeze came up and they fell into the water in a spot "filled with very thick aquatic vegetation," according to a Grant County Sheriff's Office Facebook post. "The woman made it to shore, but the man went under and didn't resurface. First responders were called right away." That was about 8:30 a.m. They se...
Seven years ago, Coulee Medical Center was in trouble. Financial challenges going back to 2012 combined with an administration publicly described by staff as "incompetent and hostile" had led to layoffs, unpaid bills, and high-profile provider resignations at the public hospital. In summer of 2017, the CEO hired to turn things around had resigned - after just one year on the job. To alarmed community members at the time, the hospital itself appeared to be in critical condition. It was then that...
The senior center lost approximately $70,000 this year to a contractor with a documented history of scamming clients in Washington, and it looks like the money is gone for good. The board president of the local 501(c)3 nonprofit organization reportedly wrote the check based on an unrealistic, unclear and over-valued contract with no specified end-date - an expense that, according to the senior center's own bylaws, should have gone before both the full board and the general membership for approva...
Grant County Health District (GCHD) staff have been responding to an increase in chickenpox (varicella) cases in Grant County over the past several months. GCHD has investigated reports of chickenpox in multiple parts of the county and is currently managing a chickenpox outbreak at a childcare center in Warden, affecting several children not yet eligible for the chickenpox vaccine, the agency said in a release last week. GCHD urges all eligible residents to get up to date on the chickenpox vaccine if they have not had chickenpox yet. “By g...