Fire season ended in the last of the 16 million acres of Oregon forestland protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry as of Friday morning, ODF said.

Washington County transitioned today to a new emergency alert system—used to notify county residents who've signed up for alerts during fires, floods, for missing persons notices and the like—called Everbridge.

While the Tillamook Forest Center has yet to reopen following what was initially a temporary shuttering of its doors in the spring of 2020, the facility appears to be on track to reopen for the spring 2022 season. To fully staff the facility, ODF relies on volunteers.

Bonanza. Coleman’s. Soon, Chicken and Guns Smokehouse. The building on the Wilson River Highway just west of the junction of Highways 6 and 8 has long served Gales Creek residents and visitors looking for a spot to eat. In spring of 2022, a Portland restaurateur plans to expand his Portland food cart to a full restaurant in Gales Creek.

What might be considered gossip fills the columns of this week's double-feature of Dispatches from history: Western Washington County 100 years ago.

What do Gales Creek and Vernonia have in common? They'll both be voting to elect a representative to House District 31 in November 2022.

State Senator Betsy Johnson, a Democrat who serves the northwest corner of Oregon in the state legislature, including Gales Creek and Banks, will run for governor under no party’s banner in 2022, Johnson said in an email to supporters.

According to the county’s mobile vaccine team schedule, two Forest Grove clinics are scheduled for Wednesday, October 20. The first of those clinics is scheduled for 12 to 2 p.m. at the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center (2037 Douglas Street), followed by the regular clinic at the Forest Grove Famers Market (2030 Main Street) from 4 to 7 p.m.

Members of Friends of Historic Forest Grove, Gales Creek community members, and school administration met on the grounds of the former Gales Creek Elementary School Saturday, August 21 to place a plaque commemorating the Jennie Ranes Building, which was built 100 years ago in 1921.

An election scheduled for Tuesday, November 2 will see few measures in Washington County to vote for, and none in Gales Creek; for those within Banks’ city limits, those in Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue's service territory, and that small sliver of Lake Oswego in the county, a handful of local measures will be determined. Voters elsewhere can instead look forward to the May 17, 2022 Primary Election.

100 years ago: A hog and dairy show is planned in Banks, and news of a new bridge in Gales Creek is "joyfully" received. This week, the clips in this history column come from the September 22 & 29, 1921 editions of the Washington County News-Times.

The latest information on vaccination clinics in far western Washington County, cases in local schools, and vaccination statistics by zip code in Banks, Gales Creek, Timber, and beyond.

A search at a property outside North Plains resulted in the seizure of more than 800 pounds of dried cannabis, 5,719 cannabis plants—Oregon law allows four plants for personal use at any given residence—half a million dollars in grow equipment, and $22,000 in U.S. currency.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information on a person caught on camera appearing to superglue the locks on a gate near the Gales Creek Campground on Rogers Road while walking his dogs.

Following reports of a rabid bat in Multnomah County, it turn out more of the same has been found further west. “Washington County also had a rabid bat,” disclosed Washington County Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Wendy Gordon in an email to local media organizations Wednesday afternoon.

An Oregon City man is the latest killed on Highway 6 after a Sunday evening crash near the Coast Range summit. Forest Grove Fire & Rescue's Matt Johnston described the scene.

A fatal crash near the Coast Range summit has resulted in the closure of Highway 6.

Oregon’s legislators will head back to Salem following Governor Kate Brown’s call to convene a special legislative session to tackle congressional and legislative redistricting.

Details remain scant after a late night shooting in the Parson Road and Highway 6 area in Gales Creek Thursday night closed the highway between Banks and Gales Creek into the very early morning. No one was injured after a homeowner reported up to six shots struck his driveway near where he was standing.

Washington County's Mobile Vaccine Team has scheduled several Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccination clinics in western Washington County in the coming weeks as the county works to combat the surging Delta variant.

A helicopter crashed in a remote area in the Tillamook Forest area in Tillamook County Wednesday morning, the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office said. It is believed that the pilot—who survived without apparent injury—struck BPA powerlines, sparking a small fire.

A single vehicle crash on Gales Creek Road near the intersection of David Hill Road across from the county-owned Rippling Waters property caused a brush fire after the vehicle ignited, lighting several trees on fire. No one was injured in the crash or subsequent fire.

Marie Boman-Davis has been promoted to lead Washington County Public Health as the public health division’s manager following the retirement of Tricia Mortell, who led the division for seven years.

The Tillamook Forest Center will remain closed through the rest of the year, the Oregon Department of Forestry said Tuesday. Last open for less than two weeks in early 2020, the interpretive center is expected to reopen in March 2022.

Adding to an earlier order to mandate masking in indoor public settings, Oregon Governor Kate Brown issued an order on Tuesday that will mandate outdoor mask wearing in settings where social distancing cannot be maintained starting Friday, August 27.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which now will be marketed as Comirnaty, for the prevention of the coronavirus in individuals 16 years old or older.

All teachers, staff, and volunteers in K-12 schools statewide will be required to become fully vaccinated, Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced today during a press conference. Vaccines will be required by October 18 or six weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gives full approval of one of the coronavirus vaccines, whichever is later.

In an email sent Wednesday afternoon to county commissioners and mayors of most Washington County cities, Chair Kathryn Harrington added an idea to her initial concept of closing indoor dining for four weeks. Instead, Harrington said, the county could require that diners provide proof of vaccination to eat inside. A decision on the fate of indoor dining in the county during the current Delta variant surge is expected at a board meeting Tuesday, August 24.

The Washington County board of commissioners may vote on a measure by August 24 to ban indoor dining for four weeks at Washington County restaurants. “What I do want us to do is strive to reduce the pressures on health care workers and hospitals,” County Chair Kathryn Harrington said during a Tuesday work session. “As far as I know, policy-wise, the only thing we can do to help that is to restrict dining to outdoor-only for the next four weeks. Pure and simple."

100 years ago: 1,500 people are expected at a picnic in Manning, and a new route to Tillamook is planned. This week, the clips in this history column come from the July 28, 1921 edition of the Washington County News-Times.

Satoru Kamoshita, 61, of Beaverton, went under the water at Hagg Lake while swimming Saturday afternoon. His body was recovered nearly three hours later by divers with the Lake Oswego Fire Department.

The Cedar Butte Fire is now 74 acres, crews have fully lined the fire, and are now focused on containment and mop up, the Oregon Department of Forestry said in what will likely be their final update on the fire.

Over the weekend, more ground crews are expected to join the fight at the Cedar Butte Fire to aid in containment and mopping up. The aircraft support will be released to fight other fires at the close of today's shift.

The Cedar Butte Fire, burning west of Highway 6 near Cedar Butte Road in the Tillamook State Forest, is now estimated to be 60 acres in size where it burns in a freshly logged unit that completed a timber harvest last month. Hagg Lake closed at 8 a.m. to allow two Single Engine Air Tankers to scoop water from the lake to fight the fire.

Citing the rapidly spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus, Governor Brown announced during a press conference that an indoor mask order in public spaces would be effective Friday.

A new wildfire called the Cedar Butte Fire, estimated at 25-30 acres, is burning in the Tillamook State Forest 18 miles east of Tillamook and north of Highway 6.

Facing another heat wave, the Oregon Department of Forestry will move fire danger to “extreme” in the eastern portion of the Tillamook State Forest and surrounding ODF-protected areas, and prohibit a number of activities in areas of the forest starting early Wednesday morning.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown will reinstate an indoor mask mandate for the entire state, the governor's office announced Tuesday afternoon. The governor will also require state employees to become vaccinated, with exceptions only for medical reasons or religious beliefs. More details are expected Wednesday. The Oregon Health Authority reported 635 patients in hospitals with COVID-19, an all-time high.

Governor Kate Brown declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for the entire state in advance of triple digit temperatures expected across much of the state beginning Wednesday.

100 years ago: A young boy dies in Banks after being struck by a truck, a Gales Creek man receives a special commendation from the U.S. Navy, and more. This week, the clips in this history column come from the July 28, 1921 edition of the Washington County News-Times.