Top Stories: Jenny Creek Fire; record temperatures; Vancouver’s Giving Closet at risk

Oct 25, 2023

How hot is it going to get this weekend? Check out our local weather forecast before you head outside.

Here are the top stories on columbian.com this week:

The Jenny Creek Fire burning north of La Center was 100 percent contained and 40 percent controlled as of Friday morning.

“Cooler weather and continued joint fire fighting efforts around the clock have made tremendous gains,” according to Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency.

J.P. Walmer spent the first day living outside chasing the shade to stay out of the 103-degree heat.

He wasn’t alone — several others at the encampment by Vancouver City Hall slept in open tents or in patches of shade on Monday.

Walmer said he doesn’t want to go to one of the county’s designated cooling shelters out of fear his possessions might be stolen, so he lays reading against a tree, periodically sipping from the water a Catholic church gave him.

When The Giving Closet opens at 10:30 a.m., a line of adults and children stream in. The kids bolt for the toy section. The parents head for the racks filled with clothes.

It’s a scene familiar to those who remember busy malls during back-to-school times, although one thing is different here: Everything is free.

The Vancouver City Council on Monday night took the first step to loosen restrictions on the size of building footprints in downtown Vancouver.

Under the current code, buildings in downtown Vancouver taller than 100 feet or a separate threshold — which varies by location — cannot have floors larger than 12,000 square feet above those heights.

The constant sound of crying and screaming shattered the peace around my home a few weeks ago. The intense, ongoing racket was alarming, even shocking — until I started enjoying it. In the end, all that desperate wailing is what helped me make a positive identification.

Hawks have moved into the tall evergreens around me in Felida, and they sure aren’t shy about announcing it with weird, whistling cries that come in bursts throughout the day, morning through evening.