By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — If the official fire danger rating remains below extreme, there will be a fireworks show at Greenwaters Parks on Sunday, the Fourth of July.
A divided Oakridge City Council approved the pyrotechnics display in a 5-to-2 vote Thursday night after voting unanimously to ban all other fireworks in the city because of tinder-dry conditions in the surrounding forests.
Mayor Kathy Holston and Councilor Bobbie Whitney opposed holding a fireworks show this year. But the council majority, led by Council President Christina Hollett, vigorously challenged the idea that it was too dangerous to hold the event Sunday night.
There will be “hundreds” of firefighters present at the Greenwaters Park fireworks show, Hollett said. She said the Oregon State Fire Marshal, U.S. Forest Service and Oregon Department of Forestry had all approved of Oakridge holding the event. She said Harrisburg, Bend, Redmond and other Oregon communities are going ahead with July Fourth fireworks shows this year, and there is no reason for Oakridge to hold back.
The current dry forests and high fire-danger rating “are typical for July” in Oakridge, Hollett argued.
Councilor Melissa Bjarnson agreed with Hollett. She said calling off the planned fireworks show “would drive people to private fireworks,” which are far more dangerous than professionally managed pyrotechnics.
Hollett and Bjarnson were joined by councilors Dawn Kinyon, Michelle Coker and Audy Spliethof in approving Sunday’s fireworks display at the city park. City Administrator Bryan Cutchen had originally recommended approval, if the fire-danger level remained below “extreme,” but Thursday night he reversed that recommendation, saying he had spoken with forestry sources whose concerns changed his mind. He still supported having an Independence Day Festival at the park Sunday, with car show, band concert and other festivities, “but without the pyrotechnics.”
‘It just scares me to death,’ mayor says
Hollett, who has been a driving force behind the fireworks plans, expressed anger at Cutchen’s reversal.
“I’m deeply disappointed in Bryan,” she said. His change of position was “unfair,” she argued.
Councilor Whitney said she was torn by the issue.
“I always enjoy going to these events,” she said. “But I’m very concerned” about the risks this year, given the destruction of the town of Blue River and hundreds of McKenzie River Valley homes in wildfires last September.
Mayor Holston was even more vocal in her opposition.
“My concern is that we sit in this bowl,” she said. “Our ground is extremely dry. It just scares me to death.”
Fireworks show has $2 million in insurance
Holston said opposition to the fireworks “is not an indication of your patriotism.” And it doesn’t mean you’re “a wet blanket” opposed to people having fun.
“This is a roll of the dice,” she said. “It might be OK. It might not be OK.”
The council majority, however, noted repeatedly that the fireworks committee has taken out $2 million in insurance. And Hollett assured everyone that the Forest Service had recommended the fireworks show as a way to tamp down the use of private, illegal fireworks during the holiday weekend. She added that the Forest Service would have a fire truck Sunday night on the LaDuke Road side of the Willamette River, where the fireworks will be ignited Sunday night.
The council spent an equal amount of time Thursday night debating Cutchen’s proposal to ban all fireworks within the city limits this fire season. Although the resolution passed unanimously, members of the council majority expressed doubt that it was sound policy or that it could even be enforced.
“I’m torn on this,” Hollett said.
“It’s going to anger a lot of people,” said Kinyon.
‘We will do our best,’ police chief says
But Cutchen, the city administrator, pushed back.
“I think it sends a signal that we’re serious,” he said.
Mayor Holston agreed.
“We need to make a statement to our community,” she said. “Let’s not go out of our way to burn our town down.”
Police Chief Kevin Martin said the ban “will be tough to enforce with just five of us,” but he supported it. He said it gives his department “strong governmental interest” in enforcing the no-fireworks rule.
The chief said illegal fireworks are a big problem in the community every Fourth of July. Adding legal fireworks to the ban will increase the challenge for his officers, he said.
“We will do our best,” he said. “Our hands will be full, but I’m sure we will be issuing some tickets.”
Martin said his officers will emphasize educating violators and giving warnings. Citations can carry fines of up to $500.
During public comments at the end of the meeting, Oakridge resident Paul Forcum took a jab at the ban.
“I spent $200 on fireworks this year,” he complained. “What am I supposed to do with it now?”
Holston suggested he save it for New Year’s Eve.
Metal fabrication/sculpture enterprise coming to town
In other business the council:
— Unanimously approved the $350,000 sale of a lot at the Oakridge Industrial Park to Middle Fork Property Management LLC, a metal fabrication and sculpture art enterprise.
— Unanimously approved the application for a $260,000 loan for refurbishing one of the city’s four water wells, which has severely deteriorated.
— Unanimously approved a $750 Rural Tourism Marketing Program grant to the Oakridge Disc Golf Club for its July 31-Aug. 1 Middle Fork Open tournament.
— Unanimously approved renewal of the city’s contract with Westfir for police services provided by Oakridge. The cost to Westfir will rise by $3,660 to $40,263 this fiscal year. Cutchen, the city administrator, was directed to renegotiate the contract in three months with an eye toward increasing Westfir’s payment, after Hollett complained that the current amount is “way too low.”
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