Ride to the finish line
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FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2022
VOL. 131, NO. 5
‘My priority was to get her out’ Serving the Lower Columbia Region since 1891
JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net
New details have emerged after a woman with limited mobility was pulled from a burning house. The incident unfolded Friday morning June 3 as fire crews were dispatched to the 30600 block of Brownlee Road in Rainier. The call was reported as a fire in a downstairs bedroom and smoke was filling the rest of the home. It was reported that a woman on oxygen with limited mobility was trapped in the main floor level of the home and she couldn’t get out of the house. Columbia County 911 dispatchers alerted Columbia River Fire & Rescue (CRFR) of the emergency. CRFR crews carry pagers and have phone apps to monitor emergency calls and other information. For CRFR Duty Deputy Chief Eric Smythe, off duty at the time of the call, this would become a rescue. First on scene
Courtesy from CRFR
CRFR Duty Deputy Chief Eric Smythe.
Smythe was first duty officer the day before and as the shift change occurred at 8 a.m. that day, he briefed the incoming duty chief and had forgotten to turn off his pager. As he was getting ready to leave his house with his family to go shop-
ping his pager went off. “There were a lot of tones, and I thought that must be a fire,” he said. “I looked at my phone and the address was just down the street. I decided that I needed to go. I ran out the door.” Smythe jumped in his car and left. “I saw on my phone there was a potential victim and I knew it would take about 15 minutes for the first engine to arrive and I am only 30 seconds away,” he said. As Smythe arrived at the house he saw smoke and he radioed dispatch that there was a working structure fire. “I assumed command and radioed that I was going to attempt a rescue,” he said. Dispatch was still on the phone with the victim and told Smythe that the woman was trapped in the backside of the burning house. Smythe said he went to the back of house and saw the victim half out of a window and heard the smoke alarm still sounding in the house.
The woman was still holding her phone talking with dispatch. “She set the phone down and I told her I was going to help her get down,” Smythe said. The window was adjacent to an unfinished deck of the house and a sliding glass door. Smythe said the deck had poorly built steps with no hand rail. The deck was about nine feet off the ground, he said. “I placed my arms around her and she told me she couldn’t walk, so I half carried her very, very slowly down the unfinished steps and got her to the ground,” he said. Smythe said he knew other firefighters were arriving so if anything happened to him, they would be able to help. Smoke from such a fire could contain a variety of dangerous chemicals, according to Smythe. “It affected me the rest of the day,” he said. “You can hack up a lot of bad stuff. It’s pretty disgusting.”
The rescue
Smythe credits dispatch for helping save the woman’s life. “They kept her calm and put her in a good spot to allow me to make the rescue,” he said. “They did a
“Smoke was blowing out around her,” he said. “It was very dark, very black. She had black around her mouth, so she had been breathing smoke. I thought that I had to get her out of there, so my priority was to get her out and get her fresh air.”
Gives credit
See RESCUE Page A4
Harm reduction raises questions in Clatskanie ZOE GOTTLIEB chronicle2@countrymedia.net
Clatskanie City Council is sending a clear message on whether and to what extent Columbia County should provide harm reduction services in Clatskanie. At their regular May meeting, council members unanimously agreed they do not support local public health officials offering syringe exchange services to Clatskanie residents. Councilors defended their position with the argument that syringe exchange “aids and abets” substance use, according to Clatskanie City Manager Greg Hinkelman. Columbia Community Mental Health (CCMH), in partnership with Columbia County Public Health (CCPH), facilitates the harm reduction program and offers syringe exchange and other services on the Turning Point property every second Wednesday each month between noon and 1 p.m. Turning Point, located at 220 East Columbia River Highway, is a nonprofit social service agency offering food, housing assistance, and disaster relief to Columbia
County residents. The exchange has flared tensions between residents who view the program as beneficial and those who believe it will only result in increased substance abuse. Turning Point Director Kelly Miller said she supports harm reduction because it aligns with other services her nonprofit provides. “The council has one opinion. Turning Point has another opinion,” she said. “It is a service that we felt (was) needed for individuals within our community. And after much research, we decided that it would be something that would benefit our clients.” Miller, Miriam Parker of CCMH, and Suzanne Beaupre of CCPH also presented at the meeting to address the common misconceptions around harm reduction. In an interview with The Chief, Parker explained that syringe exchange is “one very small part” of the overall program. “Harm reduction is a broad set of principles, which apply to providing services and support both to individuals as well as communities,” she said. “It is a service that is designed to not just help
individuals impacted by substance use disorder but by the communities around them.” One of the risks of not having a harm reduction program, according to Parker, is the potential for communicable diseases to spread throughout the community. Harm
At its heart, it is really about trying to help people be safe. ~ Miriam Parker, CCMH
reduction also protects individuals from the consequences of an overdose. “Part of our harm reduction intervention is to provide Naloxone, which is the overdose reversal medicine to anyone who is at risk of overdose or any loved ones or people that care about that person,” Parker explained. “We also do training to teach anyone in the community about how to administer Naloxone.”
While Parker acknowledges the criticisms of the program, she asserts that providing these services recognizes the humanity of those struggling with substance abuse. “There’s something profound about providing harm reduction services such as Naloxone distribution and syringe exchange, that communicates to that person who’s using drugs that their life is valuable, that their life has meaning and they’re not a throwaway person,” she said. What is harm reduction? Columbiacountyorg.gov defines harm reduction as a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences (i.e., negative health outcomes) associated with drug use. On Oct. 13, 2021, Columbia Pacific CCO announced a $25,000 grant for Columbia County to support its existing harm reduction program, (which) “is intended to help the program buy supplies, including sterile syringes, sharps containers (to ensure that used syringes are stored appropriately and returned to the program, thus
reducing the number of used syringes out in the community) and substance-use equipment that helps prevent the spread of deadly diseases through the sharing of supplies,” Columbia Pacific CCO Medical Director Dr. Safina Koreishi said. In an earlier published interview, Parker explained the philosophy behind harm reduction. “At its heart, it is really about trying to help people be safe, which may include staying alive or avoiding the contraction of a communicable disease like Hep C or HIV while they are active in their addiction,” she said. City councilors resolved to continue the conversation with Columbia County Public Health Director Michael Paul to see whether they can eliminate syringe exchange and overdosereversal kits from the harm reduction services offered in Clatskanie. The Chief reached out to Paul for his comment on the city council’s decision. We had not received a response at press time. Follow this developing story at thechiefnews.com and in Friday print editions of The Chief.
Summer splash season to begin soon
A child enjoys the water at the Clatskanie Pool last summer.
Obituaries ................. A3 Opinions ................... A4 Community Events .. A4 Classified Ads ......... A5 Legals .................... A5-6 Sports ....................... A8
Jeremy C. Ruark / The Chief
JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net
As summer approaches, administrators at the Clatskanie Pool are preparing the facility for the season. The tentative pool opening date is June 20, but not yet confirmed. Clatskanie Parks and Recreation District Administrator Cyndi Warren said she is still working to get the lifeguard schedules worked out and the new lifeguards trained for the season. Warren said the pool is currently looking at having 18-20 guards this summer, which is up about six to eight from the previ-
The Clatskanie Pool is filled and almost ready for the summer swim season.
ous two summers. A final number is expected after the lifeguard training. “The hours of the pool operation will be determined by the number of staff we have,” Warren said. “We are planning for 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday with weekends still to be determined. We are hoping to be back to our full schedule of lessons and open swims, but again all of this depends on lifeguard availability.” Teaching community youth about water safety has always been the purpose of the pool, according to Warren. “But I also love the excitement on the faces of the kiddos when they come back each summer and
recognize their swim instructor from last year or how excited they are to find out what level they passed last summer and what level they will be in this summer,” she said. Swimming lessons and water exercise classes for community members and city visitors also are planned for this summer at the pool. History Built in 1958, the Clatskanie Pool is 90-feet long, 60-feet wide, and holds approximately 135,000 gallons of water, but over the years it has aged, and significant repairs were needed.
Jeremy C. Ruark / The Chief
Renovations completed last year include resurfacing the deck, resurfacing and repainting the pool, replacing of the old tile gutter system with a stainless-steel gutter system. The wading pool has been replaced with a splash pad, and multiple pool piping issues including failures, potential failures and existing leaks were addressed. The renovation project costs were funded through the City of Clatskanie’s Scout Lake Funds, a special timber revenue collection set aside by the City of Clatskanie. Follow this developing story here online and in the Friday print editions of The Chief.