Fire Destroys Abandoned Restaurant on 101
A Crew was still on the scene early this morning at La Bula Restaurant on Highway 101 making sure that there were no hot spots. A fire started in the early evening of last night. The call came in at 5:52 pm with reports of smoke billowing out of the abandoned structure. Siuslaw valley Fire and rescue responded along with help from Reedsport, Mapleton and Gardiner. The smoke had a very toxic odor to it and firefighters were encouraging onlookers to stay out of the way of the smoke. A ladder truck was positioned over the structure dousing it with water and had to be moved when the structure became fully engulfed in flames at times reaching the extended ladder. Central Lincoln PUD was on the scene and disconnected power to the building, which also caused the Ichibon restaurant to be without power. The building was still smoldering this morning but the fire was out. Investigators will be looking to discover the cause for the fire.
Smoke Alerts Firefighters to Wastewater Facility
Just after 11 pm on Wednesday evening the Florence police and Siuslaw Valley Fire and rescue responded to smoke showing on Rhododendron drive at the wastewater treatment facility. Public Works Director Mike Miller was also called to the scene. At first he thought it might just be a result of the regular operation of the facility.
“Our methane burner burns off the excess methane and because of the cold nights that we’ve had we haven’t been producing a whole lot of methane, so it hasn’t been running at night so I just thought oh yeah, it’s just burning at night.”
Upon arriving at the scene it was determined that the smoke was caused by an ignition malfunction at the plants boiler. And there was no evidence of a fire, but the overheated diesel fuel was smoldering causing a release of heavy smoke and a large amount of diesel particulates into the air.
“We just ventilated the building to get the diesel smoke out of the building and that was pretty much it.”
Upon inspection of the facility, public works determined that there was no loss of equipment nor was their any damage to the boiler. Miller says that a technician is scheduled to take a look at the system to help avoid another such instance
Burning Season – Debris Season
Burning season has begun for Western Lane County and that also coincides with debris removal for the city. Debris drop off will once again be the third Saturday of each month. Yard debris is composted with bio-solids to produce FloGrow, a product that is used by the city parks and when available given away to the public. The first drop off will be on March 17th from 9am to 2 pm. At kingwood and 27th street. A standard pickup load will cost 10 dollars. 15 dollars for a medium trailer (10-12 feet) or 21 dollars for a large utility trailer. The city asks that you bring cash payment.
Store Pledges New Age For Gun Purchases
With the national focus on gun control and the potential for changes in the regulations one Oregon business is being preemptive. Bi-Mart stores have been serving the northwest for more than 60 years and they have released a statement from their vice-president of Advertising and marketing stating their intent to be proactive. Don Leber said in the release that Bi-Mart has never sold assault style rifles like the AR-15 or the AK-47, they have also never sold bump stocks or large capacity magazines for those rifles, and conform to the current laws, but in the wake of the most recent shooting in Florida and as a show of solidarity have agreed to push back the sale of guns and ammunition to those that are 21 years of age and meet all of the state and federal requirements. Bi-Mart says their first concern is to properly serve the communities that they are in.
