The containment level for the Mosier Creek Fire was raised to 75% Tuesday, and the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office announced on Monday that all Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation areas have been downgraded to Level 2 “Be Set.”  Previous Level 2 areas dropped to Level 1 “Be Ready,” and previous Level 1 areas had their advisories lifted.  Fire officials are asking the general public to avoid the area burned by the fire unless absolutely necessary as there will be ongoing firefighting traffic. Some roads are restricted to local access only.   Fire-weakened trees and burned roots covered by dust or ash might also still be hot enough to cause harm.  Mop-up work continues Tuesday.  On Wednesday, ODF’s Incident Management Team 1 will transfer command of the fire back to The Dalles Unit of ODF.   Several local resources will continue to patrol and monitor the fire.  People may see occasional smoke from the interior of the fire.  The Oregon State Fire Marshal’s structural Task Forces demobilized yesterday and returned structure responsibilities to local fire authorities.   Their final assessment: 8 residences were destroyed along with 28 other structures.  Fire size remains 985 acres.  Oregon Governor Kate Brown on Monday visited the site of the Mosier Creek Fire, was briefed on its status, visited a fire line and met with a family whose home was destroyed.

The Hood River County School District has moved its first instructional day for students back a week to September 14 to allow for orientation sessions before online classes begin.  Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn sent a letter to district families on Monday outlining their plans for the start of the school year.  He said they want to allow plenty of time for families and staff to be ready to get off to a good start with the comprehensive distance learning program.  Under the district’s plans, elementary schools will do teacher-facilitated instruction in the morning and applied learning in the afternoon, with that schedule flipped for secondary schools.  Details are available on the Hood River County School District website.

Hood River County Health Department Director Trish Elliott told County Commissioners during a worksession on Monday afternoon that there are 20 active cases of COVID-19 in the County, down from 37 as of Friday.  Elliott told Commissioners the County was at 219 total cases for the pandemic, of which 199 have been released from isolation.  She did say there are 76 active contacts of those who have tested positive for the virus, and two people are currently hospitalized due to the virus, with a total of six having been hospitalized during the pandemic.  Elliott said most cases are related to outbreaks or household contacts.  She did say one outbreak was at the health department itself.  Commissioners asked if there was anything they could do to help the County get more resources to deal with the pandemic, including getting more testing capability.  Elliott said that is getting better but still in need of improvement. noting that testing is still a problem throughout the country.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development is providing $2.1 million in loans and grants to establish a municipal water system for Biggs Junction.  The Biggs Service District is currently served by privately-owned water systems, each with its own storage and varying levels of treatment, with no connectivity between them, and no capacity to provide sufficient water volume in case of a fire, which has put a stop to building permits until that is addressed.  The federal funding will allow the Biggs Service District to drill a well to supply drinking water for the small community, construct a pump station and reservoir, purchase two of the private wells and upgrade them for a backup water source, and install a water main line to serve all users and provide flows necessary for firefighting activities.  The $1.56 million loan and $535,500 grant will be from USDA Rural Development’s Water and Waste Disposal Program.

High winds downed power lines and led to outages in The Dalles on Sunday evening.  Northern Wasco PUD said as of 10:15 p.m. Sunday most customers had power restored by re-routing after Bonneville Power Administration transmission poles were damaged on West 6th Street by the quickly moving storm.  BPA and Northern Wasco PUD crews were working throughout the night to restore services.  There were also reports of trees and a line down on Quinton Street.  Northern Wasco PUD asks its customers that if you are still without power, please report it by calling 541-296-2226.  Wasco Electric Co-op said power had been restored to all of its members by 8:30 a.m., and if you are still without power contact their office at 541-296-2740.

North Central Public Health District will continue offering weekly COVID-19 testing at the Community Meal site in The Dalles as long as there is demand.  District health officer Dr. Mimi McDonell said the testing is offered on a volunteer basis, and began in July when three cases of COVID were diagnosed in homeless people who live in the area and had, at times, visited the Community Meal site.  The testing is also offered to volunteers who help out at Community Meal and staff who work there.  McDonell said the testing was set up with the homeless population because they had a higher risk of exposure.  Health district staff also provide masks, hand sanitizer and information at each weekly visit to Community Meals.  The testing is offered Thursday mornings.  The Dalles St. Vincent dePaul houses the meal site.  St. Vincent dePaul executive director Dave Lutgens said they have not had any positive tests since the program began.  Other preventative steps Community Meals has taken includes feeling meals outside.  Packaged food is available in the morning for people to take with them.  People are still allowed onsite to use the laundry and shower services, or to watch TV or go on the computer.

The containment level for the Mosier Creek Fire was raised to 65% today, and the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office announced that all Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation areas have been downgraded to Level 2. The “Be Set” advisories are now in effect in the area south of the Carroll/Behrens Road intersection…Digger Creek Road, Dry Creek from the Silver Gray Road intersection to the Catron Road intersection…Osburn Cutoff Road and 2955 Vensel Road to the Carroll/Osburn intersection have been lowered to Level 2 and is now open to local residents only. Reduction from Level 2 to Level 1 “Be Ready” advisories are now in place for the area of Carroll/Behrens Road intersection…Dry Creek Road to Southern Catron Road intersection…Dry Creek to Silver Gray Road…all of Paradise Ridge Place, 6200 west to 3215 Chenweth Creek Road…3450 to 2970 Vensel Road…1600 to 4259 Mosier Creek Road…1755 to 1825 Godberson Road…and 655 to 670 Wilson Road. Level 1 advisories from the Lonely Lane and State Road intersection southeast, including Wits End Drive, Badger Drive, down Sevenmile Hill Road, to the Foley Lakes Intersection, west on Chenoweth Creek Road, including Murray’s Addition, all the way to 6200 Chenoweth Creek Road, Brown Creek Road, Wahtonka Road, McCall Lane, Douthit Road, County Way, and Wells Road have now been lifted. Fire officials say crews worked to achieve the 200-foot mop-up marker from containment line to the interior of the fire on Sunday. Today…firefighters have set the goal of reaching the 300-foot mop-up marker. Fire size remains 985 acres. The Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Interagency Management Team and the remaining task forces will demobilize today, and will release the delegation of structure responsibilities to local fire authorities. The Oregon Department of Forestry will continue to manage the fire.

The Klickitat County Health Department says 17 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 72 hours in an outbreak originating from a farm located just outside of White Salmon, but indicates that it is a localized event and there is no concern of greater community spread.  The Health Department says all farm personnel who tested positive live on the property and have been placed in self-isolation.  Contact tracing and testing of all exposed personnel has been conducted, and the farm has implemented appropriate controls and procedures for quarantine and isolation that will remain in place until the Health Department determines they are recovered.  The health department indicated more positive cases are expected as test results from the farm are processed.

Wasco County Commissioners received a report on COVID-19 showing 38 to 40 percent of cases in the county during June and July were from sporadic, or unknown, causes.  North Central Public Health District Health Officer Dr. Mimi McDonell told Commissioners that sporadic cases are of particular concern for health officials.  The percent of COVID-19 cases caused by outbreaks at a location dropped from 44% in June to 21% in July, those with a source within a household went up from 15% in June to 21% in July, and the number traced to close contacts went from 1 in June to 9 in July.

North Central Public Health District is getting funding to help do its work both related to COVID-19 and its normal services.  District interim director Shellie Campbell told Wasco County Commissioners that they are blending together all of the short-term funding resources and hiring additional staff,  Campbell said much of their regular staff has transitioned to working on COVID-19 related issues.  Campbell noted the district has received word the Oregon Health Authority has made grants for community-based organizations to work with local health departments in support of contact tracing, wrap-around services, or communication and education.  She said a number of organizations in Wasco, Sherman, and Gilliam counties have received the grants, and the district will start to work with them on how they can help.