In a scene repeated throughout the day, a Calfire “Chinook” helicopter drops another 3,000-gallon load on the burning trees in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

Officials ponder whether the trees will need to be cut down

Lightning ignited two old-growth redwoods in Jedediah Smith State Park on Sunday, and with limited resources available and fire danger high statewide, one of the ancient trees may be felled to prevent flames from spreading.

On Monday morning, the fire consisted of one green living tree and one dead snag, both roughly 10 feet in diameter, that were burning from the base to more than 100 feet up the trees.

“Due to fuel conditions and limited resources, we don’t have the option of monitoring this for too long,” said Tim DeVos, Calfire battalion chief for Humboldt-Del Norte Unit, at the Crescent City office. “As a last resort we might have to fall these trees.”

By late Monday afternoon, DeVos was more optimistic about the redwoods’ outlook after the day’s fire suppression tactics put out the fire in the snag, leaving only the smoldering green tree.

“We’ve knocked down all of the active fire and now we’re dealing with the smoldering pockets that are elevated in these old-growth trees,” DeVos said. A less than one-tenth-acre ground fire was contained as soon as crews arrived Sunday evening.

Throughout Monday, a Cal Fire type 1 “Chinook” helicopter made laps between the fire site — roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile southeast of Elk Valley Road and Highway 199 — and Lake Earl, delivering 3,000-gallon-bucketloads of water to the redwoods with considerable accuracy. 

“It’s really pretty impressive to stand here and watch them do this,” said State Parks forester Lathrop Leonard as he witnessing the helicopter tactfully dump water on the remaining burning redwood Monday afternoon.

Heavy heat at the beach felt ‘like a sledgehammer’

Rick Smith didn’t believe his car thermometer.

It read 89 degrees as he returned to his Crescent City home from Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon.

Smith was sure it couldn’t be that hot. He’s lived in Del Norte County for 35 years, and it’s never been like that.

When he pulled over at South Beach and got out, the heat hit him “like a sledgehammer.”

“It felt like I was in Mexico in the Tropics,” Smith said. “People were swimming without wet suits. I don’t ever remember it being that hot on the beach here.”

Smith’s car thermometer wasn’t wrong, at least not by much. The temperature reached 88 degrees at Jack McNamara Field, the hottest it’s been in Crescent City since 1991, said Matthew Kidwell, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

In town, which is generally warmer than out at the airport, temperatures may have pushed 90 degrees, he said.

High-altitude northeast winds blew warmer air through the hills toward the coast, also creating temperatures in the high-80s in Gasquet, Arcata, McKinleyville and Brookings, Kidwell said.

Saturday’s high in Brookings, which generally heats up more than Crescent City, was actually a degree cooler at 87, Kidwell said. 

A firefighter watches from the partially burned roof Monday. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

The residents were using their fireplace when they noticed flames spreading across the ceiling, said Crescent City Fire Chief Steve Wakefield. The homeowner, Steve Young, was taken to Sutter Coast Hospital for observation, he said.

“He definitely had heavy smoke exposure and needed to be checked out,” Wakefield said.

Firefighters were called to the scene just before 2:30 p.m. When they arrived, white smoke filled the home at 1801 Dundas Ave. just off Parkway Drive. Firefighters sprayed water on the roof and removed charred pieces of ceiling and insulation.

Greg Young, who shares the structure with his parents, said he was in the house with his 1-year-old son Jesse when he saw flames coming out of a seam in the ceiling. He was able to get his son out of the house, and got his neighbors to call 911.

Flames were pouring out of the roof when Chris Beck, Young’s neighbor, arrived. Beck said he put the fire out with three fire extinguishers. He then cut the charred pieces of ceiling down.

Parents and community members will have a chance to learn more about changes to education in Del Norte County on Wednesday, taste the school lunches their kids eat and view movies, slideshows, animations and other media projects submitted by local youths.

Building Healthy Communities will hold a community collaborative meeting from 5:15 to 7:30 p.m. at the Del Norte Veteran’s Hall.

BHC representatives will talk to parents about the Del Norte Engaged Learning Model, which was implemented earlier this year, as well as the new menu options available at Del Norte County schools. 

Emergency personnel headed out on U.S. Highway 199 just past Hiouchi on a report of a vehicle that went off the embankment Monday afternoon, but when they got there they found no one hurt, although a vehicle did go off the road.

A caller reported that a car had gone over the embankment and couldn’t be seen at about 3:45 p.m. about a mile east of Hiouchi Hamlet.

The California Highway Patrol, the Gasquet Fire Department, Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office and Search and Rescue personnel responded. 

Del Norte County Superior Court felony and misdemeanor sentencings for the week of April 26-May 2 include:

• Antonio Baltazar, 46, Fortuna, was sentenced to 48 hours in County Jail, three years probation and fined $1,854 for driving under the influence with a .08 or higher blood alcohol content

• Arthur Lee Bates, 54, Crescent City, was sentenced to 96 hours in County Jail, three years probation and fined $2,064 for a hit and run and driving on a suspended license

• Jeremie Douglas Boat, 35, Willows, was sentenced to 90 days in County Jail and fined $1,486 for a possession of a dangerous drug and obstructing/resisting a police officer

• Dewey Crager, 68, Crescent City, was sentenced to one day in County Jail, three years probation and fined $866 for possession of marijuana

• William Scott Land, 23, Crescent City, was sentenced to 90 days in County Jail and fined $907 for possession of a controlled substance

• Johnny Reno Mahan Reno, Jr., 32, Crescent City, was sentenced to 48 hours in County Jail, three years probation and fined $1,854 for driving under the influence with a .08 or higher blood alcohol content

• Marshall Blake Randall, 28, Crescent City, was fined $624 for unlicensed driving

• Laurene Alice Richards, 47, Crescent City, was sentenced to 180 days in County Jail for three probation violations

Radio tower installed over lodge as station aims for FM license

A Crescent City radio station has installed a new antenna, is working to create a clearer sound and hopes to transition onto FM radio.

KFUG AM1570 recently installed the 30-foot antenna on top of the Elks Lodge at 359 H St., said station owner Paul Critz. It broadcasts an uninterrupted signal from South Beach to Washington Boulevard. 

Now, Critz said, he is in the process of obtaining a new transmitter to improve the listening experience.

“This will drown out the noise floor and generate a little more power to clean up the signal,” he said, referring to the hissing noise AM stations sometimes have. 

In October, KFUG will apply for a 100-watt FM license with the Federal Communications Commission, Critz said. He hopes to then install a 30-foot FM antenna on top of the Elks Lodge, which would allow the station to broadcast to the rest of Del Norte County and possibly Brookings. 

A grant from the Humboldt Area Foundation is helping the station through this transition, Critz said.

“We’re laying the groundwork,” Critz said. “The FM antenna is sturdier. It’s much simpler than AM broadcasting.”

The Crescent City Planning Commission granted Critz a conditional use permit to install the 30-foot antenna atop the Elks Lodge in February. 21, said Associate City Planner Eric Taylor. KFUG had initially planned to install the antenna on the station’s roof, but was unable to because of its location in the commercial waterfront zone, said Associate City Planner Eric Taylor.

How many of you are going to college? When the question was asked, most of the fourth-graders raised their hands. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

In front of her,  congressmen quarreled with each other, firing suggestions at a faux House Speaker John Boehner. Their goal: Pass a law that would improve education.

“More teachers!” One representative insisted.

“Better textbooks!” Another cried.

A hands-on lesson on how a bill becomes a law was one of many that professors at College of the Redwoods provided to Del Norte County’s fourth-graders Friday. More than 280 youngsters participated in the “I’m Going to College Program,” which attempts to teach students that college is an attainable goal.

“We’ve been doing this for several years,” said Becky Blatnick, a director and counselor for CR’s Student Support Services Program. “In fact, the graduating seniors class at Del Norte High School were (some) of the fourth-graders that came over here. I’m enrolling them in college and talking to them about when they came to this event.”

In Jennifer Gardner’s Government 101 class, which she transformed into Washington, D.C., the education bill that started in the U.S. House of Representatives shot over to the Senate, which added more provisions, before passing it back to the House. When it appeared before Nina — aka Barack Obama — the bill called for more physical education, more teachers, more tutors, more computers, new textbooks and more money for schools.

This computer simulation shows what a replacement bridge across the Middle Fork Smith River, one of the project improvements, would look like. The bridge at the Patrick Creek Narrows currently has a dangerous approach. Courtesy of Caltrans

They say bigger trucks would make highways less safe

The environmental review process for a highway improvement project on Routes 199 and 197 has reached its final stages, but opponents say the improvements will not go far enough to warrant allowing longer trucks on the precarious paths.

Members of Friends of Del Norte, a local nonprofit conservation group, said they support improvements that will straighten and widen seven tight spots on 199 and 197, but that opening the routes to STAA traffic — trucks with no overall length limit — will negate any safety improvements made.

“(These) projects would improve highway motorist safety until the STAA trucks are invited in,” said Friends of Del Norte president Don Gillespie, adding that two recent semi-truck accidents, including one Friday, occurred on curves that aren’t  even scheduled for improvements.

“Two wrecks in two weeks on curves that aren’t even meant to be improved — that just exemplifies our concerns,” Gillespie said. “The improvements by themselves may lead to safer driving, but you’re still going to have off-tracking. Adding more truck traffic and the larger trucks that tend to off-track will lead to more accidents.”

The truck that wrecked on 199  Friday was illegally using that route because it was too big, according to the California Highway Patrol. But such trucks would be allowed after the project is complete.

Making the improvements without opening up the routes for STAA trucks sounds nice in principle, but Caltrans officials said that without STAA access, there would not be the $26 million in funding for the project. 

Williams

Homeless couple recounts how they ended up here

A journey full of despair led up to bank robbery charges being filed against a homeless couple, they said this week.

The Triplicate conducted separate interviews with James C. Smith, 43, and his wife, Sarah Williams, 29, at the county jail where they are sitting, charged with the April 16 robbery of the Bank of America branch on H Street.

The couple moved to Crescent City in January to be closer to Sutter Coast Hospital shortly after Williams suffered from an instance of Bell’s Palsy, which paralyzed a portion of her face, they said.

They moved from Brookings, where they had lived at a campsite for about a month until they spent all of their money. Smith, who is legless, said he gets a monthly disability stipend of $900.

He lost his legs following a 1998 car accident in Oregon. He said he was riding in the backseat of a vehicle after a night of drinking when it went off the road  and crashed into a barn.

“I’ve been in the chair since,” said Smith. “It’s been hard. Society is not kind to people in a wheelchair.”

Smith