Got it together for the new school year? Ageappropriate planning
Lucky break for Kam’s standin C1
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THURSDAY, 08.27.2015
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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Drunken man left under bridge Three firefighters from Everett drove Kirk Spencer nearly to Marysville, dropped him off and told him not to come back. By Rikki King Herald Writer
EVERETT — Three Everett firefighters were called out July 1 to help a homeless man who was
drunk and lying on a downtown sidewalk. They and others in the department had dealt with the man more than 100 times in the past. One of them, a fire captain,
decided to drive the man nearly to Marysville and leave him underneath a bridge with two bottles of water on an 83-degree day. The firefighters told Kirk Spencer, 51, not to come back to town and to “get off the sauce,” according to documents obtained by The Herald under state public
records laws. Then the crews omitted what happened from their logs. They didn’t consider Spencer a patient, so they reported that no patient had been treated or transported. Others at the fire department were appalled and alerted their bosses. After an investigation, the three
Terrain creates tricky fires Firefighters battle to protect power structures around Newhalem
firefighters received this discipline: The captain got a letter of reprimand. Two others were admonished in person. “It is clear the actions that were taken in that incident were beyond what we consider to be reasonable,” Fire Chief Murray See BRIDGE, Page A10
State fair to make changes for 2016 After the Puyallup fair announced plans to compete with Monroe, Snohomish County started looking at ways to keep people here. By Amy Nile Herald Writer
by large boulders and debris falling from the surrounding mountains. In total, the fires making up the Upper Skagit Complex Fire have grown to 6,655 acres. Of those who have been evacuated, many have been Seattle City Light employees who live in Diablo. Tim Lorkowski, 56, is an engineer with Seattle City Light. He said he had to leave his home in Diablo at about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 19 when the town was evacuated. There was heavy smoke around his house, and he was only able to take a couple of items with him.
MONROE — The Evergreen State Fair is ramping up this year to face competition in 2016. The fair, which opens Thursday Find in Monroe, has your long been held guide to the during the 12 Evergreen days leading up State Fair on to Labor Day. But Page A3. beginning next year, the Washington State Fair in Puyallup will kick off on the Friday before the holiday weekend and continue through Sept. 25. Organizers are adding extra days after a study showed other major fairs had successfully extended their runs, according to information about the change posted on the Puyallup event’s website. That’s going to leave the Evergreen State Fair competing for attendance, exhibitors, entertainment and vendors, fair manager Hal Gausman said. Snohomish County, which owns and operates the fairgrounds, has staff looking into ways to draw people to Monroe instead of losing them to Puyallup. “We’ll continue to put on the best fair possible,” Gausman said. “My goal is every time you turn around, you see something that makes you smile.” He plans to do that by increasing the amount of money spent on free entertainment during the 2016 fair and making improvements around the grounds.
See FIRES, Page A2
See FAIR, Page A2
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The Bellingham Herald
NEWHALEM — At night, Alan Ferrara can hear trees falling in the forest. If he looks across the Skagit River from his home, he can see flames. Ferrara, like many other Seattle City Light employees, lives in Newhalem, which has been surrounded the past week by the wildfires known collectively as the Upper Skagit Complex Fire. Newhalem also is home to the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project, which supplies about a quarter of Seattle’s power. However, “that’s not happening right now,” Ferrara said. The Goodell Fire, by far the
Inside ■ Smoke and wind make wildfires brutal to fight, B1 ■ Find more photos in a gallery with this story at www.herald net.com. largest of the fires in the area, has grown to more than 5,500 acres and has downed power lines around Newhalem. Crews in the area have not been able to access the power lines to repair them. Even though the fire is growing, firefighters have been successful preventing the flames from reaching any structures. The fire, triggered by lightning Aug. 10, started to spread
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quickly Aug. 19. Ferrara, a Seattle City Light maintenance manager, said he watched it move from one side of town to the other within 20 minutes. It crossed the Skagit River near the Gorge Powerhouse, and firefighters along with Seattle City Light employees fought the flames and prevented it from reaching the building. It has forced evacuations in Newhalem and Diablo, including the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center and the North Cascades Visitor Center. Ross Lake Resort also has been evacuated. Highway 20 is closed from Bacon Creek through Rainy Pass, as the guardrails along the highway have been hit repeatedly
Gun cut-out bin Can’t give ’em away: WalMart says it will stop stocking the AR-15 and other semiautomatic weapons because fewer people are buying them (Page A8). The Buzz assumes this means that most of the weapons’ would-be buyers are either dead, in prison or Dear Abby. . . .D5 Horoscope . . . B2
busy going to Donald Trump rallies. What if the Big Mac and the Whopper had a baby? In the spirit of publicity stunts the International Day of Peace, Burger King is asking McDonald’s to join forces on a “McWhopper” that combines elements of the chains’ signature burgers (Page A9).
Lottery . . . . . .A2 Northwest. . . . B1
Obituaries. . . .A6 Opinion. . . . .A11
Fine. But please, we beseech you, McDonald’s and Burger King: Do not make a mash-up of Ronald McDonald and BK’s creepy king mascot. Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1965, Le Corbusier, the Swiss-born architect whose work heavily influenced the design of Short Takes . . .D6 Sports . . . . . . . C1
stark, bunker-like buildings like the 1967 Snohomish County Courthouse, died at age 77 (Today in History, Page D6). The Buzz suggests that a fitting way to acknowledge Le Corbusier’s architecture on his birthday would be to knock down one of the buildings inspired by it. — Mark Carlson, Herald staff
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MARK MULLIGAN / THE HERALD
Firefighter Jay Flora mops up a hot spot on a downed tree along the Trail of Cedars across the Skagit River from Newhalem on Wednesday afternoon. Crews are working on a second day of mop-up since the initial flames came through the area. The Goodell Fire around Newhalem and Diablo is 0 percent contained. Because of the difficult terrain, the fire cannot be fought on its leading edges. Instead, crews are trying to protect key assets around Newhalem including Seattle City Light structures and North Cascades National Park buildings and campsites.
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