Crescent Lake Weather

Certainly everyone here in the Northwest knows the destructiveness & dangers of forest fires in our woods. This past Summer we had such a horrific event. Right on the fringe of the Crescent Lake Junction business area. Those who were there or saw the pictures will never forget the sight of the "huge" flames nearly a 100' high directly behind Manley's, KJ's and the General store on the North side of highway 58. The fire even jumped the highway and headed past the airport runway towards our warming hut and grooming shed. Good fortunes and absolutely fantastic actions by fire crews clearly saved the buildings in the Junction...and...our snow park warming hut and probably our groomer shed.

Several of you in the Cr.Lk.Jct. area were aware of a need to "close" the area of the fire that occurred near the Jct.. Simply stated, a review of the continuing review of the aftermath of the fire and reports being provided to the Forest Service prompted the closure which then limited access to (only) FS fire personnel. Barricades have been installed and closure notices posted. (generally) all from the North side of the airport runway to the West, East and Northern borders of the fire area were closed. Cr.Dist. FS personnel noted that our over-the-snow season was soon to begin. They expended considerable effort to find an alternative to the closure of specifically the groomed trails thru that area. A crew of several "Hotshot" fire personnel went to the area yesterday and proceeded to reduce the risks of blow-downs adjacent to the trail which will then enable us to groom and to use the trails thru there. We will assist by posting the area with "stay-on-the-trail" signs and letting folks know that these restrictions must be complied with. PLEASE pass the word...AND.... PLEASE DO comply...and...PLEASE thank our forest personnel for a quick response to help us continue to access/use this area.... QUESTIONS/PROBLEMS....let me know.

COLVRT, community members, agencies and volunteer organizations all worked together to support first responders and community members displaced from their homes during the recent fire. The community wishes to express appreciation to them all. The following is a list of those that supported the effort. I you helped and are not on the list I apologize.
Red Cross, who set up a shelter Crescent Community Center
Mark Bolton
Jim & Kathie Mullen
Oregon Dept. of Transportation ( Lapine & Chemult)
Brenda Dickie
Rich & Judy Long
Walker Range
George & Sue Keller
Oregon State Police
Olivia & husband (RV park managers)
Darrell & Kerry Ellington
Linda & Mari Barron
DeeDee & Mark Keith
US Forest Service
Tom & Sandy Troxell
Klamath Co. Sheriff
Sally Murray
Terry Hepner
Cliff & Diane Davidson
Jean Varnon
Lloyd & Shiela Goff
Bob Gunderson (Master BBQ’er)
And a Special THANK-You to
John Balentine (Master Chief)
Bill & Gloria Gibbs
Our firefighters & Ems personal
Chief Tim
Holly & Gene Henderson
Oregon State Fire Marshal
Baptist Church in Crescent

Approximately 450 meals were served consisting of:

BBQ Chicken, Hot Dogs, Polish Dogs, Hamburgers, Cheese Burgers, Salads: macaroni, potato & tuna. Meat loaf, & mashed potatoes, Clam Chowder, Chili, Spaghetti, cheese platter ,French bread, bagels, English muffins, fruit, nuts, cakes, brownies, cookies, sandwiches, juice, punch, coffee, water

Please note that the next COLVRT meeting is Sunday October 5, 2008


Thanks,

Holly

The Incident Commander for the Royce Butte Fire and District Ranger will be holding a town meeting September 20, 2008 at 5:00 pm at the Central Cascades Fire and EMS building. This is an informational meeting in order to provide the community with current fire information as well as who will take the fire over when Central Oregon Fire Type 2 Team leaves.

With the fire still underway. Homes and the resort still in jepardy COLVRT volunteers are doing what they do best, supporting their oommunity. They are cooking meals and doing what ever they can to support responders and residents in need. This is what they do. The hours may be long and hard but the rewards will be great. Keep up the good work. I am in Texas working with the evacuees of hurricane Ike and cannot be there to help. However, my thoughts are with those back home.

In land towns of Texas, including San Antonio are filling up with self evacuees. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in all costal communities North and South of Galvestion Island. People are still refusing to leave. One bar, is holding a "Hurricane Pary" and the paticipants are determined to drink their way through it. CNN estimates that 35,000 will need to be rescued. This after being warned that to stay is to die. Will they never learn? Those who elect to stay will be the first to complain that help didn't come fast enough. They will put others, the first responders, lives in danger bccause of their stupidity.

You may have noticed that this site hasn't been updated as frequently as usual. That is because I am currently in Texas, with FEMA, working on past and future hurricanes. My current location is the State of Texas Alamo Regional Command Center. This facility is the nerve center of Texas in the event of a pending disaster. It is not unlike a penigon operation center. There are three screens, tuned to the weather channel, CNN and Google earth. eight additional screens are tuned to other channels. A large screen, about 20 foot by 25 foot displays Significant events directly off of a computer screen records movement of busses, abulances and other support vehicles. The operation is a "Unified Command" It is staffed by police, fire, volunteer and Federal Agency personnel all working under a single Incident Commander. The cooperation and coordination is impressive. My role is to act as a liasion with the State. I constantly forward updates on shelter populations,opening, closings, etc. our State Joint Field Office in Austin. In the four year that I have been working with FEMA this is the closest that I have been involved with the top decision makers. It is exciting and a priledge. Deenie is in Texas also. She has been working in McAllen. Her location is being evacuated today so she will be back on the mountain sometime tomorrow. It is our hope that she will join me when Ike passes and air service is back up and running. I will attempt to write updates as this event progresses.

I just received notice that the (newly appointed) Acting Ranger Rolando Mendez for the Crescent Ranger District has scheduled (2) meetings for collaboration and brainstorming. Specifically referenced are (3) proposed OHV riding areas. They are called "linked" areas with proposed staging areas that would include the Junction Snow Park near Crescent Lake Junction, the Mushroom Camp and the Boundary Springs Campground which is East of hwy. 97 up on or near Walker Rim. There is also a need for users of the area to provide information about trails used, what the design of trails should be to accommodate different kinds of off-hiway vehicles, and whether or not there are issues that need be resolved.

Everyone interested is encouraged to attend at least one of the sessions. Indicated is that both meetings will have the same framework so attendance at one or the other would be ok. The first meeting is set for Wednesday Sept.10th at 6:00 p.m. at the Gilchrist High School and the other is set for Wednesday Sept. 17th at 1:00 p.m. at the Crescent Ranger's District Office in Crescent.

I am not going to go "political". However, with ratings for our House, Senate and President at all time lows. The following might explain why we are in such sad shape.
A Washington, DC, Airport Ticket Agent offers some examples of why the US is in trouble!

1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window. (On an airplane!)
2. I got a call from a candidate's staffer, who wanted to go to Cape Town. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information, and then she interrupted me with, 'I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Cape Town is in Massachusetts .' Without trying to make HER look stupid, I calmly explained, ' Cape COD is in Massachusetts. Cape TOWN is in Africa ...' Her response . . click.
3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that's not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, 'Don't lie to me, I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state!'
4. I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked, 'Is it possible to see England from Canada ?' I said, 'No.' She said, 'But they look so close on the map,' (OMG, again!)
5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had only a 1-hour layover in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, 'I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time.' (Aghhhh)
6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She wanted to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 am and got to Chicago at 8:33 am. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.
7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, 'Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?' I said, 'No, why do you ask?' She replied, 'Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!' After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it (I was laughing), I came back and explained the city code for Fresno, CA is FAT (Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.
8. A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, 'Would it be cheaper to fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii ?'
9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who was calling from the airport and asked, 'How do I know which plane to get on?' I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, 'I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them.'
10. A lady Senator called and said, 'I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola, Florida. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?' I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola, Fl. on a commuter plane. She said, 'Yeah, whatever, smarty!'
11. A senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. 'Oh, no I don't. I've been to China many times and never had to have one of those.' I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, 'Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express!'
12. A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations, 'I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York .' I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, 'Are you sure that's the name of the town?' 'Yes. What flights do you have?' replied the lady. After some searching, I came back with, 'I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code in the country and can't find a Rhino anywhere.' The lady retorted, 'Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!' So I scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, 'You don't mean Buffalo, do you?' The reply? 'Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.'
Now you know why the Government is in the shape that it's in!