Turn On It, Tune Out, Drop In

N WIND 10 TO 15 KT INCREASING TO 15 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS TO 25 KT BY LATE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 3 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 7 SECONDS.

I was loading up my car to head for Gearhart this morning when I got a call from a co-worker that power was out and that a plane had crashed into a house down the street. He said he could see flames 50 feet high and that another c0-worker had been driving by the house when the plane crashed. His car was blown from the road by the impact. Here's the story from the Daily Astorian:

GEARHART - A single engine plane crashed into a house in Gearhart this morning and exploded into flames. An adult and two children were taken to hospital.
Three other children were unaccounted for, said Dennis McNally, Gearhart city manager, on-scene public information officer.
Eyewitness Jay Speakman said it was a sad day for the community. "When we got here it was a giant ball of flame," he said.
Speakman said he heard the plane take off, level off, then the engine appeared to speed up and then there was silence. Fifteen to 20 seconds later there was an explosion, he said.
A LifeFlight fixed-wing plane, rather than a helicopter, was headed to the Astoria Regional Airport in Warrenton, where victims would be shuttled for transport, said Bob Coster, civilian search and rescue controller at the Group, which includes Air Station Astoria.
A later message said LifeFlight was responding to Warrenton with multiple aircraft.
Betty Smith, The Daily Astorian's advertising director, who lives in Gearhart, said her whole house shook with the impact.
"You could tell the plane was in trouble," she said. "I heard it stutter, and then there was a thud as it exploded."
Smith feared that her dear friend Judy Redekop's house had been hit so she ran to find out. In fact, Judy and Jake Redekop were unscathed although their bedroom was opposite the house that burned. Smith sheltered the shocked couple in her home.
The house that was damaged belonged to Greg and Nancy Marshall, although it was believed that it was occupied as a rental.
Emergency crews from several local fire departments responded to assist Gearhart Fire Department. Fog at the scene hampered early efforts to find the location, on North Marion Avenue near the Third Street intersection.

N WIND 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT THROUGH THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 5 FT. NW SWELL 4 FT AT 7 SECONDS... BUILDING TO 7 FT AT 7 SECONDS.

A 14 year-old surfer, Cole Ortega, was seriously injured after being struck by an incoming dory during heavy, rising surf this past Sunday. The boy's arm was severed by boat's the propeller just above the elbow as it struck and passed over him. Others surfers in the water recovered his arm and assisted him to shore where he was quickly treated and evacuated by emergency and medical teams. Cole's arm was reattached at Portland's Emanuel Hospital and the prognosis is hopeful, but guarded, that he will recover some use of the limb.

Immediate responses have run the gamut; with allegations of dangerous negligence on the part of the dory operator, insinuations that surfers have no business surfing at Cape Kiwanda in the first place and the calls for restricting access to certain use groups.

Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail and something positive will occur as a result of this tragic incident. An aid fund, managed by local surfers and dory men, has been established to assist the Ortega family through this crisis.

If you are interested in making a donation please mail checks to:

The Cole Ortega Recovery Fund

P.O. Box 423

Pacific City, OR 97135