For three days in April, a wildfire blazed through a swath of Watson Township.

Windy conditions led to difficulty containing the fire the first day and, by early evening, it had consumed about 100 acres in the area of Cobham Hill Road, east of the Allegheny River. Officials on the scene said there has not been a wildfire of that size on the ANF in more than a decade.

Personnel at the Watson Township scene were ready to attack the fire on the ground, but were instructed to stay back until it was safe.

“A hand-dug line was not holding,” DCNR Fire Forester Jay Lindemuth said. “We disengaged for firefighter safety. It’s not safe to go in there with the wind.”

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton An up-close look at a young lake trout, taken last Friday at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery

The next day the fire had been somewhat contained, but the area consumed had swelled to 150 acres — though with no injuries or buildings damaged.

“The folks did an excellent job yesterday doing structure protection,” said public information officer Wayne Wynick, working for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Incident Management Team. “That’s a priority.”

A second fire of 100 acres or more was burning at the same time off of Hemlock Road in Glade Township, “was at a better condition as far as fire activity” than the Cobham Hill fire, Wynick said. “We’ve still got personnel on it who are beating it to death.”

“A concern with both of the fires is the rough terrain that the firefighters have to work in,” he said. “It slows things down.”

In both cases, the types of fuel made it more likely that a fire would start, but made them more likely to burn out quickly.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry A helicopter contracted by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to help in fighting a wildfire in Watson Township approaches a landing zone near the Incident Command Center at Warren State Hospital.

TROUT REBOUND STARTS HERE

New York state officials have announced the first documented lake trout reproduction in Lake Erie in more than 60 years.

Where did those young fry’s parents likely come from?

Right here at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery at the base of Kinzua Dam.

“These fry were likely produced by adult fish we stocked as juveniles that grew up to adults and finally found good spawning habitat,” Hatchery manager Larry Miller said.

Times Observer photos by Brian Ferry A firefighter returns to the area of Mickleson Lane in Watson Township from the front of a wildfire.

The wild fry were collected by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Lake Erie Fisheries Research Unit this spring in “fry traps on a rock reef about five miles west of Barcelona Harbor in Chautauqua County.”

The Hatchery will stock about 200,000 fish in Lake Erie, Miller said, as well as 320,000 in Lake Ontario. They’re also working with different strains to explore what strains — Lake Champlagne, Seneca Lake, Lake Huron/Perry Sound — to see which perform the best.

The ultimate goal for the restoration effort, he said, will be for 70 percent of Great Lakes lake trout to have the adipose fin, meaning that they’re wild.

ATTENTION-GETTING NOTICE

One of the most-read stories was the Dec. 11 notice that 114 frontline nurses and health-care workers who make up the Warren General Hospital Professional Employees Association had submitted their 10-day strike notice.

The notice was the latest escalation in contract talks between the union and the hospital that included pickets and full page ads in the Times Observer, but none of the escalations generated as much interest as the strike notice.

“It’s well past time for Warren General management to show some leadership — to do the right thing for their patients and their staff,” said Rose Colucci, R.N., who has been a nurse at Warren General for 36 years. “I hope the strike notice is a wake-up call for them.”

Rick Allen, Warren General Hospital chief executive officer, was “disappointed and shocked” by the union announcement Saturday.

“I am deeply disappointed and shocked that the members of the PASNSP union have chosen to harm our community hospital and negatively affect delivery of patient care through a strike,” he said in an email to the Times Observer. “The negotiating committees have agreed on almost all aspects of a new contract including significantly increased salary, benefits and language regarding staffing guidelines. By any measure our current offer is extremely generous.

The story had a calmer ending. Just two weeks ago, the union agreed on a contract with the hospital.

According to a statement from PASNAP, the contract “strengthens staffing at Warren General by requiring the hospital to take measures to address short staffing on a unit due (to) increased patient acuity and increased census, among other reasons.”

They say that includes assignment of a float nurse, pulling staff from other units, seeking volunteers among nurses who have expressed a willingness to pick up shifts, calling casual nurses to work and having supervisors work and assist.

“The Administration of the Hospital is pleased with the contract ratified today and how it confirms our practice of staffing nurses,” Joe Akif, the hospital’s Chief Nursing Officer, said. “In our new contract we confirm in writing our staffing practices that have been in place for several years. It is noteworthy that Administration and the PASNAP union have agreed to an appropriate approach to staffing nurses.”

CRIMINAL CHARGES

September brought news that a long-time Warren County notary had been shut down and her records confiscated, leaving customers who paid for vehicle services in a tough spot.

Brenda Gibson, a notary since 1999, with office at 1595 Market St., in North Warren, was reported to be under investigation.

According to Rep. Kathy Rapp, her office had been aware of problems related to Gibson’s business for some time. When the first person came in asking for help with a payment to PennDOT that did not go through, the office helped that person resubmit forms and proof of payment.

When several more people came in with the same problem — not receiving their vehicle title or registration — all of whom had gone through the same notary, “We realized it was a big problem,” Rapp said. “A legal problem.”

“It’s very extensive, unfortunately,” she said.

That included Deerfield Township, where Gibson was accused of stealing about $325,000 from the township, with its population of just over 300, since January 2020. A preliminary hearing in the case has been continued to Jan. 25.

Gibson is charged with two counts of theft by unlawful taking; two counts of receiving stolen property; two counts of theft by deception; two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds; forgery; deceptive business practices; restricted activities — conflict of interest; and two counts of other reason access device is unauthorized by issuer (all felonies); and three misdemeanors – tamper with records or identification; and two counts of misapply government or entrusted property.

LET’S GO BRANDON

“Let’s Go, Brandon” grabbed the attention of officials in Warren County School District in November when school board member Arthur Stewart introduced what he described as a “list of banned words formed by a new policy up at Eisenhower.”

Stewart said “liberal” and “Let’s Go, Brandon” were among a list of “banned words” reportedly from an internal email at Eisenhower High School.

It was only a week later that a group of Eisenhower students put on their “Let’s Go, Brandon” shirts.

Students were reportedly called to the office and asked to either remove the shirts or turn them inside out. They were told that those who did were allowed to leave. Those students who did not remained in the office Tuesday afternoon.

“We didn’t want to take them off,” senior Josh Parker said. “We have the right to protest and we have the right to freedom of speech.”