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Firefighter injured in commercial blaze Serving Columbia County since 1881
JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net
One firefighter suffered injuries during a commercial fire at the 300 Building, a storage unit facility, at 777 Port Avenue in St. Helens Saturday morning, March 12. “As Columbia River Fire & Rescue (CRFR) firefighters arrived at the scene smoke was visible on all bay doors with heavy smoke showing throughout along with flames showing from a few of the storage units,” according to CRFR Public Information Officer Jennifer Motherway. “Due to the wind, firefighters were hindered by poor visibility and air quality.” The injured firefighter was taken to a Portland area hospital for treatment of undisclosed injuries and is now at home recovering. “We would like to provide that individual privacy at this point in time, so we are not sharing further details,” she said. Scappoose Rural Fire Protection District crews were also called to the scene of the fire. Motherway said significant progress was made throughout the morning to hold the fire progress to the initial building and that ultimately helped to save the additional buildings from catching fire. “The entire 300 building suffered heavy damage,” she said. “The owner of the building is working with an insurance company to determine the estimated amount of damage.” According to Motherway, the building did not have a fire sprinkler system.
Firefighting challenges
According to Motherway, the commercial fire presented multiple challenges for the first responders. “First and foremost are the concurrent calls for service which creates a challenge on staffing,” she said. “This is one of many reasons we operate with a combination department, meaning we have volunteers who can respond to calls from home to bolster the current staffing levels of the day.” Another challenge was reaching the fire. Firefighters had to use forced entry. At one point, firefighters used a chainsaw to cut through the large metal doors of the building. “We had to cut padlocks and force the roll up doors on the building which takes additional time and manpower,” she said. “High combustible storage items in many of the units, with paper products, wood products, clothing as well as hazardous materials such as paints and oils ultimately added fuel to this commercial fire and created a more challenging scene.” Crews remained at the scene throughout Saturday night mopping up and monitoring any additional fire spread. Columbia River PUD, St. Helens Police Department, Columbia County Sheriff and Clatskanie Fire District also assisted at the fire scene. “Their support and assistance in mitigating the fire was crucial during this difficult event. In total we had 33 fire personnel on scene over the course of the time spent managing the fire,” Motherway said. “Police and fire remained on scene through Monday, March 14 to monitor the fire activity and provide additional assistance.”
Jeremy C. Ruark / The Chronicle
A firefighter keeps a close watch as crews battle the blaze.
Courtesy photo from Chance Masterson
This sky-high photo shows the large column of gray smoke rising above the fire.
Jeremy C. Ruark / The Chronicle
A firefighter sprays water on the hot spots after the fire damaged several units of the storage building.
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Backlogged Metro Creative Connection
Hospitals have had to adjust how they serve patients due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patients, staff cope with healthcare delays ZOE GOTTLIEB chronicle2@countrymedia.net
As the national and statewide focus shifts away from COVID-19, hospitals across Oregon and the United States are scrambling to prepare for a new challenge. Crippling staffing shortages, long appointment wait times, and missed screenings are among the many difficulties compounding the stress of healthcare workers and patients even as COVID-19 concerns decline. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2022 report, Oregon’s healthcare systems are serving approximately 62% of healthcare needs compared to previous years. “We estimate it will take at least six months to catch up,” Oregon
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Health and Science University (OHSU) Senior Media Relations Specialist Franny White said. Between July 2021 and January 2022, OHSU reported performing 1,000 fewer surgical procedures than in 2019, resulting in a backlog that could cause a massive ripple effect in the delivery of critical care. The ripple effect could include late-stage cancer diagnoses, resulting in less favorable outcomes in cancer treatment down the road, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI modeling indicates 10,000 excess deaths will occur from breast and colorectal cancer between 2020 and 2030, a roughly 1% increase from pre-pandemic rates. Because some cancers grow slowly, the impact of the pandemic on overall cancer deaths will be unclear for many years, Chief of the Statistical Research and Applications Branch for Cancer Control and Population Sciences Eric Feuer, Ph.D., said. St. Helens St. Helens Legacy Health Site Medical Director Dr. Roxana Abbott said her team has managed to keep up so far with the inflow of patients. “Honestly, I’ve been really impressed with how we’ve kept up with things,” she said. “There have been short periods of pauses where
2022 Columbia County Vol. 140, No. 11
we try to move to more virtual visits for a few weeks or maybe a month. But otherwise, we’ve been plowing through.” Abbott said patients can expect to wait “one to three days” to be seen by their primary care physician, and operations are running “smoothly,” though she contends people have generally put on about 10 to 15 pounds “across the board” since the pandemic began, putting them at risk for hypertension, diabetes, and certain cancers. Abbott also noted a disturbing rise in mental health cases. “Depression, anxiety, isolation, you know, alcohol addiction has really taken a spike,” she said, adding, “We’re really working closely with our community mental health teams and our clinic team members who help with mental health to try to help folks.” Scappoose Without a hospital to manage the flood of patients, more and more OHSU Scappoose patients are using Facebook as an outlet to vent their frustration with long waits for healthcare services. “Is anyone else having challenges with excessive wait times to get an
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Kelli Nicholson / The Chronicle
Mason Ashlock and Gavin Klobes get their hands dirty planting shrubs along the bank of the Scappoose Creek.
Kelli Nicholson / The Chronicle
Otto Petersen students engage in the tree planting at Veterans Park in Scappoose. See more photos with this story at thechronicelonline.com. KELLI NICHOLSON chronicleclassifieds@countrymedia.net
Otto Petersen fourth graders, together with Scappoose Bay Watershed and Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, planted 100 native trees and 200 native shrubs at Veterans Park in Scappoose Monday, March 14. The students planted
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Pacific Ninebark, Snowberry and Cascara along the banks of Scappoose Creek. Once the trees and shrubs are fully grown, they will provide much needed shade to help keep the water temperature down to benefit the salmon, beavers and other wildlife that make this area home, according to organizers of the event.
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