Jeff Manning, Oregon Journalism Project
Posted inNews

Judge in PacifiCorp Wildfire Trials Wants to Quadruple the Court’s Pace

Many victims of the 2020 wildfires still await resolution of their damages.
by Jeff Manning, Oregon Journalism Project

A Multnomah County circuit judge has adopted an ambitious new schedule to speed up a class action lawsuit PacifiCorp faces over Oregon’s 2020 wildfires. Judge Steffan Alexander approved a new case management order July 28 that will quadruple the number of damages trials by February. The new schedule calls for four damages trials to run simultaneously. […]

Posted inNews

New Oregon Department of Forestry Report Says PacifiCorp Wasn’t Responsible for Santiam Canyon Fire

The long-awaited report supports the utility’s version of the deadly blaze
by Jeff Manning, Oregon Journalism Project

Oregon Department of Forestry investigators have determined that the 2020 Santiam Canyon fire was not caused by downed power lines as plaintiffs’ attorneys have alleged but rather by hot embers drifting into the canyon from the nearby Beachie Creek fire. The report, released March 19 to the Oregon Journalism Project under a public records request […]

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Bill Would Create $1 Billion Fund to Aid Utilities in Paying Wildfire Victims

In a document circulated last fall, Oregon power brokers argue wildfires endanger the entire state’s economic health
by Jeff Manning, Oregon Journalism Project

After a series of low-profile meetings with Salem power brokers and utility officials, state Rep. Pam Marsh (D-Ashland) confirms to the Oregon Journalism Project that she has crafted legislation to create a $1 billion fund to help utilities pay damages to customers hurt by utility-caused wildfires. It is the second bombshell utility bill the moderate […]

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Crossing a Line

Federal regulators have found fault with PacifiCorp’s practices
by Jeff Manning, Oregon Journalism Project

The fires in Oregon in 2020 were not the first or only time PacifiCorp’s corporate behavior has been called into question. On June 26, 2012, James Martin was found dead at the wheel of his vehicle. A rapidly moving wildfire near Indianola, Utah, had overtaken him as he was attempting to flee the flames. The […]

Posted inNews

Dodging Death

To understand the damage in the Santiam Canyon, hear from those who narrowly escaped
by Jeff Manning, Oregon Journalism Project

During more than five months of reporting, the Oregon Journalism Project spoke with many survivors of the Santiam Canyon fires of 2020, in addition to Kathleen Becherer. Here are two of their stories: On Sunday, Sept. 6, Diane Turnbull heard what sounded like an explosion. She rushed to the front door of her small home […]

Posted inNews

After the Inferno

PacifiCorp was grossly negligent in Oregon’s 2020 wildfires. Now it’s asking lawmakers for protection.
by Jeff Manning, Oregon Journalism Project

Kathleen Becherer, 77, retired in 2014 to the Santiam River Canyon, where she hoped for a life filled with “bees, goats and grandkids.” That dream was incinerated in September 2020. The Santiam Fire, which burned 400,000 acres (almost half the size of Rhode Island), reduced her riverfront home to ash and nearly killed her. Becherer […]

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