 Lightning strikes across county
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| SMOKE AND MIRRORS: A volunteer firefighter is seen in the rearview mirror extinguishing flames Tuesday at a brush fire east of Grass Valley. Klickitat County’s Rural 7 Fire District was called to assist Sherman County in the effort. Photo by Rachel Cavanaugh. |
Andrew Christiansen
News Editor
Thunderstorms rolled into Klickitat County last Sunday with tinderbox conditions, and more lightning than rain, setting off several fires north of Goldendale.
Firefighters attacked blazes on Observation Hill and along Pipeline Road, with help from Ellensburg-based helicopters dumping buckets of water drawn from the Columbia River. Goldendale resident, Heidi McCarty, noted smoke around 7:30 p.m., a couple of hours following lightning strikes that appeared much farther away from town.
A large local response flooded the area with firefighters, drawing water from town hydrants. By nightfall, smoke filled valleys on both sides of Highway 97, making it difficult to discern where fires might be flaring, as lightning continued to flash, east toward Bickleton.
By Monday morning, much of the fire was extinguished, but wooded areas south of Foster Road and fields west of Pipeline Road continued to smolder with occasional flare-ups.
Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) took over management of the fires, including a small blaze on Grayback Mountain. By Monday evening, DNR firefighters from around the state and local volunteers who are certified for such fires, were mopping up small fires which DNR fire prevention team leader, Davie Kindell described as 75 percent contained.
The fires were classified as a Type 3 complex, meaning a low level incident. However, with more lightning and winds expected on Monday night, DNR was preparing area residents for evacuation, should the fires spread.
The Klickitat County Sheriff’s office went house-to-house in the Pipeline Road, Orchard Heights and Ponderosa Park areas, distributing flyers telling residents which exit routes to take should an evacuation become necessary.
Residents were instructed to go to Goldendale High School for shelter, if needed.
By Tuesday morning, the fires were extinguished south of Foster Road and small areas were smoldering along Pipeline Road.
According to DNR, 121 acres were affected by the fires. DNR brought 80 people to Goldendale, many camped at the Fairgrounds. As of Tuesday noon, DNR had spent $80,000 on the fire for people and supplies.
Then, Tuesday afternoon, still smoking, Rural 7 was called to help in Sherman County at a fire threatening structures near Grass Valley in Oregon.
Several days prior to the Goldendale fires, fire erupted along the Columbia River, near Wishram, reportedly due to lightning. A fast moving grass fire generated a call for mutual aid in the Grass Valley area, around noon on Tuesday.
The prognosis for continued threat of fires is higher than people think, according to Debbie Robinson, regional fire prevention and training coordinator.
“People think the wet winter reduced fire danger, but we still have deficit moisture in fuel from past dry years,” said Robinson.
One of the tools used by DNR to estimate risk is an estimate of moisture content of grasses, twigs and trees. Kiln-dried lumber is typically between six and eight percent moisture. DNR data shows four-inch diameter, dead trees are testing about 12 percent moisture, and have dropped seven percent in 18 days. Twigs are testing around five percent, with eight percent deemed the hazard level.
Robinson and Kindell are part of the team that has been working on fire education in the area for the past six years. There is great concern about hazards associated with Fourth of July fireworks.
The main concern, according to Robinson, is fireworks that act close to the ground. Ground-bloom flowers were the worst, more than bottle rockets, in tests conducted on a variety of fireworks.
The fact ground-bloom flowers are hot and jump around, make them a risk to set off grass fires, whereas bottle rocket embers are generally much cooler by the time they land.
TFire officials urged the public not to underestimate the hazardous conditions and potential for devastating fires which could be started with seemingly safe fireworks.
DNR and local government and rural fire districts formed a program called Firewise, to inform the public about practical ways to reduce wildfire risk. The Central Klickitat Conservation District can provide home and community assessments at no charge.
Electric cars at smelter could mean jobs
Rachel Cavanaugh
News Editor
A proposal to manufacture electric cars at the idle aluminum plant outside Goldendale was put forward by a local businessman this week.
If the idea materializes, it would create about 100 jobs its first year and likely more after that. The plan’s founder, White Salmon entrepreneur John Gotts, said he intends to submit a formal business plan to the smelter owners within two weeks.
Although local officials emphasized the notion is in its earliest stages and could fail to bear fruit, they remained enthusiastic about the prospect.
“We hope everything [Gotts] has in mind can be achieved because if it can it means jobs,” said Mike Canon, economic development director for Klickitat County.
“It’s not a done deal…there are a lot of small details that could slow this down or derail it, but the long-range plan he’s looking at is certainly doable.”
The businessman outlined the concept at the Columbia Gorge Aluminum Company last week during an 11-person meeting, which included the plant’s chief operating officer and its three owners. One had flown in from New York for unrelated business and agreed to meet with the group.
Gotts told the gathering he would like to lease a 60,000-square-foot building that already exists at the plant to start an electric car industry.
The idea, he said, would be to purchase “bare bones” vehicles in buying fleets from dealers like Mazda, Kia, or Ford, and convert them from gas engines into electric.
His business plan sees 1000 cars manufactured per month and workers paid about $36,000 each in annual salaries. It seeks to be operational in 120 days, or by early November.
Gotts said he is confident he can make that timeframe.
“I’m not sitting around for 18 months waiting for something to happen,” said Gotts. “I want this now. We’ve got an opportunity.”
The entrepreneur, who specializes in web traffic, said public interest in electric cars has skyrocketed since gas hit the 4-dollar mark recently. In the last year, Google searches have gone from between 100 and 200 inquiries per day to about 7,000 daily.
He said the cars are one of the next big trends and, so far, few have tapped into the industry. There have been other electric car factories in the United States, but most have been for specialty uses -if Gotts gets his factory off the ground, it would be the first of its kind for large scale production.
“This is shooting up like a hockey stick,” he said. “It’s just not stopping.”
The cars have a three-prong electric cord like a washing machine, which the owner plugs into an electric outlet to charge for a few hours or overnight. Once ready, the cars can drive up to 70 miles around town and 40 to 50 on the freeway before needing a re-charge.
Gotts has been working on the project for about three months and already has two business partners lined up - a bank executive who would act as chief executive officer (CEO) and an auto engineer slated to be chief operating officer (COO). The latter, he said, is one of the nation’s foremost electric car experts.
Although it is the web-based businessman’s first “brick and mortar” operation, he said he feels certain it will be successful.
“I feel this in my bones about the electric cars,” said Gotts. “You’ve got to hit while it’s hot and it’s hot right now…I know I can pull this electric car thing off.”
Gotts has modeled his business plan after Dell computers, in which customers purchase the product online with a waiting period. The strategy generates immediate revenue and minimizes the need for large scale investment.
He said the fact that he will not be manufacturing raw products, but buying and converting for resale allows him to skip the time-extensive crash testing and other product licensing procedures.
He already has the first 25 cars sold to friends and family, he said, and is currently seeking funding and grant support from the state, county, and Port of Klickitat.
Canon said the car factory would fit into the bigger picture idea the county is pushing to create a “green energy district” in the old facility. This would include things like wind energy parts manufacturing and service, solar panel production, and algae-based biodiesel.
The owners of the 7000-acre aluminum plant agreed it is too early to comment on how seriously Gotts’ proposal will be considered, but one called the idea “intriguing” in an email following the meeting.
Owner Thomas Garnier said one of the decisions they must first make is whether it can ever be re-opened as an aluminum plant. He said they have not ruled out the idea.
Part of the enticement is all the equipment and machinery is still there, which would be costly and time-consuming to remove for the market. They are also still considering the idea of melting the structures down for metal, although he said they would ideally like to keep it for the region.
“The structure is there and it’d be nice if it got back to community use again,” Garnier said.
The owner stressed that regardless they are looking for an operation that can demonstrate long-term feasibility for at least 30 to 50 years. He guessed it would be six months to a year before anything permanent could be installed in there, but noted the timeframe could change.
“That’s not to say if there was a viable plan there wouldn’t be an interim plan available,” said Garnier.
As for electric cars, he said, additional comments would be premature.
“I have no idea whether the idea will go further or not…You’d have to have a pretty strong business plan that is complete in order to get the lease.”
At the moment there is at least one other small operation leasing part of the plant.
One of the concerns with electric cars, which Gotts himself pointed out, is whether the Goldendale factory could compete in three to five years, when current auto manufacturers begin making their own electric cars.
He said his plan is to offer gas car conversions alongside the new electric cars which will fill in the demand.
Canon said at the meeting Gotts was able to answer each of the owners’ questions when asked and succeeded in pushing back some of their “reservations and skepticism.” He said by the end of the meeting there was a positive tone in the air.
Garnier said he and the owners have not received other detailed offers and it is hard to say what will come of the proposal.
“Sometimes things start as small ideas and then they grow into something big,” the plant owner said.
Two new rock mining operations planned for west half of county
Rachel Cavanaugh
News Editor
A rock mining operation will be authorized approximately eight miles north of Roosevelt, on East Road, if the conditional use permit is granted by the Klickitat County Planning Department. The Department has the mitigated determination of non-significance on file and is open for public appeal until 5 p.m. on July 7.
The mining would occur on 20 acres currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. The applicants estimate that during peak use, the site will have up to 125 truck round trips per day. The nearest residence is more than a mile from the site.
A second mining operation from a separate applicant is planned for 10 miles southeast of Goldendale, on the north side of Hoctor Road. The expectation is for 30 trips per day and the entrance would be from Oak Flat Road. The site includes 275.1 acres, but no more than three acres are planned for excavation at any one time. The appeal period is also open through July 7.
Also up for consideration for a conditional use permit is a 25 megawatt electric generator that would utilize gas produced at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill. The new generator will be located approximately 2,000 feet north of the existing biogas project, within the boundaries of the landfill. Electricity will be supplied to a new substation next to the generator, which will be connected to the PUD high voltage transmission system. As with the mining projects, appeals are due, July 7.
A fourth application for conditional use permit with July 7, appeal date is a request to build a 150 foot communications tower and related facilities, two miles east of Satus Pass, just south of the Yakama reservation, on property owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation. The tower will replace an existing tower and is expected to improve E911 call coverage, according to the applicant.
Written comments on any of the projects are accepted by the Planning Department up to the time of public hearing.
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