Fire crews on Monday dealt with some small fires in the Mid-Columbia Region.  Among them:  a late evening fire at the Ferry Landing near Dallesport that did get into some trees.  Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue crews responded to a small grass fire shortly before 8 p.m. at the Mayer State Park boat basin.  And on Monday afternoon there was a 1/6 of an acre fire on top of Satus Pass northeast of Goldendale.  In all three cases, the fires were quickly brought under control.

The Dalles Public Works crews and contractors will apply fog seal next week to all streets that received chip seal treatment last month.  These fog seal projects will require short duration road closures between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at each location.  Detours will be in place during work hours.  This road work is expected to extend the service life of the pavement structure.  Proceed with caution in those areas during construction times and observe all temporary traffic control devices.   A full list of projects and a 2022 The Dalles Pavement Preservation Program map can be viewed at thedalles.org/transportation.

Hood River’s Urban Renewal Agency heard from City staff and consultants on their recommendation for a concept for the Heights Streetscape project.  The suggested alternative is a hybrid of two other proposals that would convert the existing one-way traffic on 13th Street to two-way traffic while maintaining one-way traffic on 12th Street.  12th Street would have diagonal parking and a two-way protected bike lane and 13th Street would have a center turn lane and on-street parking on one side of the street.  The intersection at 13th and May would be controlled with a roundabout and the intersection at 13th and Belmont would have a traffic signal.  City Planner Dustin Nilsen noted the concept would be used to develop a preferred design along with incorporating public input from a recent open house and surveys.  URA board members did express concern about whether the Oregon Department of Transportation would sign off a such a plan, as 12th and 13th are a state highway, noting they didn’t want to spend money on a plan that might not meet ODOT approval.  The URA board made no decisions on the concept recommendation.

The Dalles Police Sergeant Doug Kramer was honored for his actions in saving a man from potentially dying from a drug overdose during a City Council meeting this week.  Police Chief Tom Worthy presented the Lifesaving Award and letter of commendation to Kramer.  Worthy said on June 2, Kramer arrived at a home to find a woman giving CPR to a man in the bathroom.  Kramer recognized the man had symptoms of a drug overdose, and was trained in the use of NARCAN, which he administered to the man who began to breathe again.  As the man woke up to emergency crews assisting him, Kramer was able to calm him down and explain what happened, staying with the man until he was taken for further medical treatment.

The Union Street Undercrossing in The Dalles has been closed to all traffic until further notice due to the high Columbia River level, which is causing water at the undercrossing to be deep enough to be hazardous to vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians.  According to the Corps of Engineers, which operates Columbia River dams, the high water level of the Bonneville Pool is necessary for flood control due to recent rain and snow melt.  When necessary, Union Street northbound will be closed to through traffic at the railroad tracks, and will be completely closed north of the Hattenhauer access road at 111 West 1st Street.  Intermittent access to Lewis and Clark Festival Park will be open as river levels allow.  Approaching the undercrossing from the west side, West 1st Street will be closed to through traffic at Terminal Way and will be completely closed beyond the employee access to the Oregon Cherry Growers Riverside facility.  Motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians are encouraged to use Webber Street as an alternate route to access West 1st Street and the west section of the Riverfront Trail during times the underpass is closed.

Mt. Hood National Forest officials are reminding all those headed to public lands this Fourth of July weekend to take precautions to prevent wildfires and natural resource damage.  While there are currently no campfire restrictions on Mt. Hood National Forest, campers and picnickers are encouraged to always plan carefully before starting a campfire.  Fireworks and explosives are never allowed on national forests, regardless of weather or conditions.  Fireworks are also prohibited on other public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and Oregon State Parks, as well as most county and city parks.  If you are planning to have a campfire, please remember to keep your campfire small and away from flammable material, use a designated campfire ring when available, keep water and a shovel nearby, and never leave a campfire unattended.  Completely extinguish your campfire by drowning your fire with water and stirring with a shovel and mke sure your campfire is cold to the touch before leaving it.  Portable fire pits and propane-fueled stoves with an “off” switch are a good alternative to campfires as they can be extinguished quickly.  More information about recreation sites, seasonal road closures, and areas impacted by wildfire damage is available on the Mt. Hood National Forest website.

The Oregon State Police say a blown tire led to a semi-truck accident on Interstate 84 near Cascade Locks on Monday morning that closed the freeway between Troutdale and Hood River for most of the day.  According to the OSP, the truck with a crane boom and a flatbed trailer was traveling eastbound on I-84 near milepost 42 at around 6:45 Monday morning when a tire blew.  The semi-truck went through the cement barrier into the eastbound lane where it jackknifed and rolled onto its side, then slid on the cement barrier and caught on fire.  The OSP says the driver, 37-year-old Marvin Klopfenstein, escaped with only minor injuries.  The Oregon Department of Transportation reopened the freeway during the mid-afternoon after cleanup of an estimated 200 gallons of fuel, oil, and antifreeze that came from the vehicle, and repair of gouged pavement.

Mid-Columbia Economic Development District has been working closely with the Wasco County Broadband Action Team to develop the Mid-Columbia Broadband Speed Survey.  The survey is now open and available for public participation for residents and businesses in Hood River, Wasco, and Sherman Counties in Oregon and Klickitat and Skamania Counties in Washington.  Local and regional partners are coming together through broadband action teams made up of community organizations, local governments, elected officials, and internet service providers to better define gaps in broadband service and explore strategies to improve those services.  Currently, the Federal Communications Commission defines broadband internet as a minimum of 25 megabytes per second download and three megabytes per second upload speeds.  However, the State of Washington has defined a goal of 150 megabytes per second download and upload speeds available to all residents and businesses by 2028.  Q-Life Network, which serves The Dalles and Wasco County, has defined a similar goal for services in Wasco County in its most recent strategic plan.  The survey is available at mcedd.org.

Washington Congressman Dan Newhouse led 24 members of the Congressional Western Caucus in a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore urging him to immediately utilize forest management techniques to prevent catastrophic wildfires.  The letter responds to the Forest Service decision to place a 90-day ban on prescribed fires, which the caucus believes removes an essential wildfire prevention tool from state and local land managers.  Newhouse claims history and decades of federal land management have exhibited that one-size-fits-all approaches by the federal government do not work and handcuffing state and local land managers and foresters in the middle of wildfire season takes away critical forest management tools.  Newhouse called on the Biden Administration to rescind the prohibition on prescribed fires.  In May the Forest Service announced a pause on prescribed fire operations on all National Forest System lands in order to conduct a 90-day review of protocols, decision support tools, and practices, after a major fire in New Mexico was found to have been caused by a poorly executed prescribed fire.

Planned work on The Dalles Sanitary Sewer CIPP Lining Project that was supposed to start this week has been pushed back to the middle of July.  Under the revised schedule, work will take place in the downtown area of The Dalles from July 11 to July 15 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day.  The following week, there will be a crew working nights downtown from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., with another crew working during the daytime at other locations.  For day shifts traffic will be allowed thru or alternate routes will be clearly marked