We begin tonight with the growig
concerns over toxic contaminatin
in the Parkrose neighborhood afr
an abandoned Kmart building went
up in flames earlier this week.
And thanks for joining us.
I'm Blair Best.
That four alarm fire at the old
Kmart building at 122nd and Sany
happened Wednesday morning,
but it wasn't until Friday thate
City of Portland declared an emergency.
After toxic material was found
in the debris this afternoon,
there was a community meeting.
Ashley Grams was there and Ashl,
bring us up to speed.
Yeah, Blair, this meeting just
coming to a close here at the
Parkrose School District now the
Oregon Department of Environmenl
Quality and Multnomah County sa,
well, there isn't as much
asbestos as they once feared.
It's still out there and resides
packed this meeting room.
Over 100 people joined online
and still others sat in an
overflow room down the street.
Many of those people concerned
about the big chunks of ash and
debris the rain down after the
Kmart fire about 5 days ago.
The DEQ says they're still work.
Need to find out how far the debris traveled.
EPA has hired a contractor that
is conducting that assessment to
identify how far away from the burned
building debris has been found.
We had ash and debris all in our yards.
The city's response was slow.
Here we are five days later and I'm getting
a trash bag and some gloves and saying,
hey, just wet it down, you're f.
Now, lots of neighbors saying they feel
like this information is coming too late.
It's been about 5 days.
They say they've had to make decisions
about how to clean up so that their kids
and their dogs can go back outs.
The county did hand out these pamphlets,
kind of giving instructions on how to
dispose of this ash and this de.
Now, they also handed out disposable gloves.
They handed out masks,
and they handed out trash bags.
But lots of neighbors we talkedo
says this is too little, too la.
They're expecting more support
from the city and the county.
All right, Ashley, thank you.
Well, Portland is once again deg
with sweltering heat this summe.
Counties in the metro area are looking into
which neighborhoods are most vulnerable.
Let's bring in Thomas,
Schultz and Thomas.
This information will help peope
prepare for this extreme heat.
Yeah, Blair will.
Around 100 volunteers were out s
week in the Portland metro area,
driving around collecting
heat and humidity data.
County officials say that will
help determine where they
need more cooling shelters.
In shady areas with sensors in place,
there you go.
Volunteers shut their car
door and hit the road doing
their part to find out how to
alleviate rising temperatures.
In Portland, when we
have had really hot days,
we do see an increase in heat
related illness. Volunteers
are driving these sensors around Washington,
Multnomah and Clackamas County.
This is the first time the couns
have worked together to map out
heat zones across the city.
They have us going to a mobile
home Pkwy locating Portland's.
Heat islands. Those are neighborhoods
hotter than surrounding communi.
1 neighborhood can be up to 18
degrees hotter than another, ye.
Kathleen Johnson is a public heh
coordinator in Washington Count.
So here's the sensor.
She says hotter neighborhoods my
have fewer shady areas and moret
absorbent surfaces like sidewal.
The hotter the neighborhood,
the more severe extreme heat ca.
We're
really trying to center the heah
aspect of it and really preserve
human life and prevent illness,
she said. As in 2021,
nearly 100 people died in the
metro area during a heat.
Dope temperatures reached a recd
high 116 degrees in late June.
Now, better information will
help counties determine where
to add cooling shelters in
trees to create shadier areas.
We need more trees.
We need to maybe come up with
better ways to pave our Rd.
that doesn't reflect
as much heat.
The data will be available
by the end of the year.
It will also be used to accuraty
update Multnomah County's Heat
Vulnerability Index. Blair
Thomas, thank you. Well,
let's bring in meteorologist Joe Ranieri.
And Joe, we're seeing all this ,
but it's not even the peak
of the summer yet. Peak
heat really kicks in from late July into
the basically the middle part of August.
We're not quite there yet.
And heading into this week,
we are gonna be seeing some much
cooler conditions and, you know,
we haven't seen yet this summer.
What measurable amount of rain e
get that I'd say by late mornin,
early part of the afternoon
tomorrow and we are getting very
close knocking on 90 degrees do.
And if that happens that will mk
the 14th day this summer that we
seen temperatures 90 or above.
And on average we do that 15
* a summer of late.
And I think we'll get very close to that
here in the next at 90 minutes or so.
But heading into tomorrow,
we'll expect to see some cooler conditions
roll through basically throughout wine
country up and down the I5 corr,
temperatures upper 80s,
close to 90.
Trees and along the Oregon coast
from Hoquiam all the way down
at Tillamook you're looking at
temperatures in the low 70s but
changes move in by Monday after.
Basically the window of lookingt
some models show late morning rt
around maybe 1030 eleven o'clock into
the early part of the afternoont
2-3 hour window where we could e
seeing some showers move throug.
Last time we saw a measurable
amount of rain was on June 19th.
We haven't touched it so far this summer,
basically trace amounts,
but we can basically put a goose egg in,
in terms of rainfall amounts
for the summer of 2023.
And as we put in future casts io
motion heading into tomorrow morning,
we're going to be waking up to
cool and cloudy conditions,
just some light sprinkles.
I'm expecting really up and down
the Oregon coast and into the
with the Washington coast,
we can see a little bit of
some yellows and some oranges.
This is a weak system that's gog
to be moving onshore heading ino
tomorrow afternoon be by the evening.
Hours will be drier, but again,
some models are showing There
could be a little bit of some
lingering showers and some spris
heading into Tuesday morning.
Regardless,
people who are tired of the heat
are looking forward to the early
part of next week and I'll talk
more about what you can expect o
see over the next few days in my
detailed forecast few minutes fm
now. All right, Joe, thanks so .
Well, with all this warm and dry
conditions across the Pacific Northwest,
we're tracking four major wildfs
from Southern Oregon to the Gor.
On the Washington side of the G,
the Newell Rd.
Fire has reached more than 51,000 acres
as it burns through the grasslas
of eastern Clickattack County.
The fire started Friday afterno.
High winds are making it
difficult for firefighters ther.
Several structures near
Bickleton have been destroyed.
Level 3 Go Now evacuation orders
are in place for areas north ofe
Columbia River and Washington Hwy. 14,
with Level 2 orders in effect for Roosevelt.
The fire is 0% contained in Lane County.
Firefighters are battling the Bedrock fire.
It started yesterday afternoon
near Fall Creek Lake.
About 25 miles southeast of Springfield,
in the Willamette National Fore.
Now it's burned 300 acres, but e
officials say they expect it to grow.
The bedrock campground has been closed,
and people are urged to avoid
campgrounds in the Fall Creek a.
There's no containment so far.
The largest wildfire in the
state is in southwest Oregon.
It's called the Flat Fire.
It continues to burn out of conl
in a Curry County National Fore.
It's reached just over 20,000 as
between Gold Beach and Grants P.
More than 1000 people are fightg
it from the ground and air.
Officials say it was human causd
13 injuries have been reported.
Fortunately, though none of them are serious.
It is still 0% contained.
And also in Southern Oregon is the newest
major fire called the Golden Fi.
It's burning east of Klamath
Falls and north of Bonanza.
This fire has burned more than 0
acres since early yesterday afternoon.
Numerous structures are threatened and
Level 3 evacuation orders are in effect.
There's also a red flag warning in effect
due to strong gusty winds and low humidity,
and Governor Tina Kotek is now calling
for more resources to fight this fire.
Well,
Speaking of fighting fires,
check out this Fire Camp for Gi.
It's become a tradition to show teens
and young women what firefighters do.
Tim Gordon's takes us to Sherwod
for the Portland Metro Fire Cam.
Gathered around an old wrecked ,
a group of camp cadets age 16 to 22 learn
the finer points of cutting and dismantling,
including operating the jaws of life.
Emergency crews used to get
injured people out of vehicles.
The cadets and firefighter
instructors are all female.
This is the 15th year of the
Portland Metro Fire Camp.
We cram a lot in the three days,
and they're usually pretty hot,
tired and exhausted by the end of it.
Lieutenant Emily Van Meter with
Walton Valley Fire and Rescue s.
The lessons are many,
with the ultimate goal
to show them that they can do whatever
they want, that we are not, you know,
confined by what society tells s
to do and to give them the abily
to see themselves in our positi.
The camp is put on by TV,
F&amp;R and Portland Fire and Rescue.
It's hard work. It's hard work.
It was like it it wasn't a shock, but
it was like, OK, this is the real deal.
Hard work, but fun and rewardin,
says Megan McKenna, who is seriy
interested in this as a career.
I just think this camp
is a great opportunity for kids
my age just to come out and see
what it's like to be a woman in
the fire service and just get yr
hands on with all the equipment
and all the training we get to .
What we saw was just a fraction
of the training, so there's
something here for everyone.
My favorite was the fire hoses.
I feel like it's just such a staple of
like firefighting that it was so cool
to actually be able to be in col
of 1 and learn how to use it properly.
Altogether, this builds knowled,
skills, and confidence,
and you can see it in the
high fives and camaraderie
that grows as camp goes on.
Showing the power of this
type of togetherness,
it's really important for womeno
find their communities anywheret
specifically in like male dominated fields.
And it's really, really inspirio
see all of these women out hered
just knowing that women will als
have a place on the front lines.
Tim Gordon, KGW News.