When it is that warm in Portland, it will be quite warm in the fire zones.
When it is that warm in Portland, it will be quite warm in the fire zones.
Wildfires Continue to Burn ,
Some Progress is Made
PORTLAND - With flames crackling through mixed sage brush and juniper trees, Oregon's two largest wildfires burned together overnight Saturday and became a single megafire that measured the second largest in the country.
Crews battling the Winter and Toolbox fires in south-central Oregon near Summer and Silver lakes also got together, and said they have a better chance of containing the blaze now that it is concentrated in one area.
"The fire crews are getting together and talking about what's going to happen next," said Dale Warriner, a spokesman at the fire.
Flames burned up hillsides near Picture Rock Pass on about a mile-long combined leading edge, Warriner said.
The fire was about 15 percent contained Saturday afternoon, he said.
A voluntary evacuation order remained in effect for 60 homes near Summer Lake. Several homes in the Silver Lake area also were threatened, he said.
The new fire created by the merger has not yet been named.
The fire burned on about 83,000 acres, said Marc Hollen, spokesman for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland.
He said there are about 25 fires the center considers major burning in the state.
Gov. John Kitzhaber will visit a fire camp Monday in Paisley, where hundreds of firefighters are based as they continue efforts to contain four large blazes.
Kitzhaber is to visit the Squire fire in Jackson County Monday morning, then fly to Paisley in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, fixed-wing aerial tankers took off in Oregon again Saturday after Federal Aviation Administration officials grounded the nation's fleet Thursday following a firefighting plane crash.
The restriction had not affected helicopters.
The FAA order was rescended at noon Saturday. Some tankers in Oregon remained on the tarmac for additional checks, but most of the about 10 planes took off with loads of slurry, Hollen said.
Fires burned a total of 212,000 acres in central, southern and eastern Oregon.
In other wildfire developments in the state, residents living near the southwestern Oregon town of Ruch returned to their homes Saturday as firefighters made good progress against the Squire Peak fire.
Authorities lifted a voluntary evacuation notice at 10 p.m. Friday after firefighters labeled the fire 95 percent contained.
In southern Oregon, the Tiller Complex of fires had burned more than 3,000 acres by in the Umpqua National Forest southeast of Roseburg by Saturday.
The Tiller Ranger District fire lookout at Acker Rock was evacuated Thursday because of fire danger. Several of the fires are not being fought because of a shortage of firefighters, Hollen said.
Officials were preparing an evacuation plan for the Umpqua Creek Pow-wow grounds in the Boulder Creek/Jackson Creek area.
In Crater Lake National Park, 11 small fires were reported contained Friday. The largest was two acres, park officials said.
Other fires burning in Oregon: