Fire fighters to be commended for their efforts to contain fire

Well, Weiser and Washington County, you can be proud of the athletic abilities of your Police, Sheriff, and Fire Departments! Last Saturday evening, Arrow-Heart, held their annual fundraising softball game with Malhuer County at Memorial Park. For those of you who may not know, Arrow-Heart is a local youth leadership training organization headed up by Weiser’s own Steve Fenske with the help of many volunteers.

 From the score you would not have thought it was a softball game. The score looked more like football at somewhere around 34 to 14 in favor of Washington County. Like I said, you can be proud of the athletic abilities of your First Responders!

 There was a nice turnout. Food, beverages, candy, and T-shirts were sold with all funds raised going for Arrow-Heart’s expenses. It was a great event! Good job, Steve! Thanks for everything that you and your organization do for the kids of this town! 

 Also, Arrow-Heart is planning a murder/mystery fundraiser in November. Hope to see you there.

 Another exciting event this past week was the lightning fire on the hill north of town. With the wind shifting from time to time in fairly close proximity to homes, it was a nerve-wracking time for the firefighters. 

 One thing I would need to say is that fire is not a spectator sport. I was informed that there were an estimated 1,000 people who drove to watch. This created bottlenecks for the firefighters in moving their equipment around. 

 Traffic and fires do not mix well. This goes for all fires but particularly for fires outside the city limits. Please keep in mind, that with fires outside of town, it is not just a matter of the firefighters getting to the fire once, but several times as they must shuttle back and forth to their water supply and to different places as the wind shifts. 

 So, next time, please be mindful to make sure the roads are clear for firetrucks. If this means staying home, please do so. 

 Thank you to the Rural Fire Department for managing this event! Also, thank you to the farmer/farmers who used their discs to create a fire line! This fire could have been so much worse. Instead, there was relatively minor damage limited to a vinyl fence, a shed and a wheel line. It was primarily kept to about 600 acres of dried grass and weeds. Good job everyone!

 In City news this week, you might see the street department around sweeping the streets by hand and working with a strange looking piece of equipment with a black hose and long stick looking thing at the end. The result of these efforts will be to seal pavement cracks with tar. 

 The Street Department had originally planned to be chip sealing our recently paved streets this year. However, along with just about everything else, the costs skyrocketed this year. So, instead of chip sealing, the decision was made to buy just the rock this year, stockpile it, and then chip seal next year. Doing it this way will allow the City to spread the cost of chip sealing over a two-year period rather than one. We are now trying to get rock at a reasonable price.

 Spreading the cost over two years is not an ideal situation. The City would rather have completed all the chip sealing projects this year. However, with the funds available, the alternative would be to set up, bring in the necessary equipment and operators this year, do a small portion, and then do it all over again next year. By spreading the chip sealing over two years, it will cut down on setting up twice and bringing the equipment and operators in twice. This has allowed the City to plan for the increased cost and provide a way for you to get more “bang” for your tax dollars. This is not ideal but seems to be the best avenue to take. (No pun intended.)

 Well, that’s it for this week. Thanks for making Weiser such a great place!