Tuesday
Grab the Money Tree
Showers resolute across Peninsula B10
Great discounts on local dining and services A6
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper
September 1, 2015 | 75¢
Storm’s bluster dubbed ‘historic’
Above the fray Drone tracks fire’s hot spots
Park area closings, outages continue
Test flight in Olympic forest deemed success INSITU
BY DOMINIC GATES
InSitu operator Joseph Cooper prepares the ScanEagle drone for launch to surveil the Paradise Fire in Olympic National Park last week.
MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE
QUEETS — Officials fighting a forest fire in Olympic National Park say they successfully used a drone last week to get overhead infrared video to steer waterdropping helicopters to their target. “They were watching a live feed and ALSO . . . were able to direct ■ Fight helicopter bucket against fires drops to heat,” said may last into Brentwood Reid, fire winter/A4 information officer for the Paradise Fire. “Because the forest canopy is so dense, it’s very difficult to detect hot spots and even the fire’s edge.” The weeklong test was the first time the U.S. Department of the Interior has operated a drone in firefighting, but it’s likely not the last. The ScanEagle drone used at the Paradise Fire was designed and built by Boeing’s unmanned-aerial-vehicle subsidiary InSitu in the Klickitat County town of Bingen and provided by the company at no direct cost to the government as an operational test. The Department of the Interior is testing the use of drones for wildfire suppres-
S
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
The storm that hit the Pacific Northwest on Saturday is being called the region’s most powerful summer storm on record, and as of Monday evening, the North Olympic Peninsula was still cleaning up fallen trees while some power customers remained in the dark. Winds that approached 90 mph on the Peninsula’s Pacific Coast and more than 50 mph in East Jefferson County dropped trees on cars and power lines, closing Olympic National Park roads and cutting power to more than 14,400 customers in Clallam and Jefferson counties. By Monday, most park areas and attractions had reopened, and service had been restored to most power customers.
howing how
unmanned vehicles can help fight wildfires, a drone provided real-time overhead video to officials battling the Paradise Fire in Olympic National Park.
BY ARWYN RICE
Park closures NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
This is a screenshot of a video showing the drone’s infrared view of the Paradise Fire.
sion this year, though it’s likely to be several years before they are deployed in significant numbers. “We have to determine how we’ll safely integrate these things into our
existing tactical-aircraft fire-traffic area,” said Brad Koeckeritz, Interior’s national unmanned-aircraft specialist. TURN
TO
DRONES/A5
Olympic National Park workers Monday continued clearing trees and branches from roads and campgrounds and removed hazardous trees and snags to reopen more parts of the park, which had been completely closed immediately after the storm Saturday. “We do plan to have everything open in time for Labor Day weekend,” Rainey McKenna, park spokeswoman, said Monday. TURN
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STORM/A5
Schools prep for first day of class Centennial party, registration set in Jefferson districts
tery school districts.
Chimacum
Cowboy Day will be held all day Thursday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Chimacum School District and the BY ARWYN RICE entry of the class of 2019 — the 100th graduating class. PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Cowboy Day begins with ChiJefferson County school dismacum High School registration tricts are gearing up for the new and ends with a centennial annischool year with back-to-school versary party at 6:30 p.m. events this week, including a 100Registration will be held from year anniversary celebration for 8 a.m. to noon Thursday for all the Chimacum School District. students, including Running Start, Sept. 8 is the first day of school the Pi Program and Focus Proin Port Townsend, Chimacum, Quil- gram. Registration activities include cene and Brinnon school districts. paying fees, getting a 2015-16 Port Townsend and Chimaschool identification card, taking cum districts will hold back-toschool pictures, turning in annual school events this week. paperwork, applying for free or Clallam County classes begin reduced lunches, arranging for this week. parking permits and purchasing Classes will resume today for an ASB membership and the yearSequim students, Wednesday in book. Forks and Thursday for the Port Angeles, Crescent and Cape FlatTURN TO SCHOOLS/A5
FALL
CHARLIE BERMANT/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Unique hometown flavor Main Street Executive Director Mari Mullen, left, chats with Printery Communications owner Mike Kenna, center, and David Kayley, who ran Main Street when the first Port Townsend Family Portrait was taken in 1985. The three were at the picnic that followed the picture-taking Sunday afternoon. For the 2015 family portrait, see Page A8.
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INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS BUSINESS CLASSIFIED COMICS COMMENTARY DEAR ABBY DEATHS HOROSCOPE NATION PENINSULA POLL
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