Flames force evacuations in The Dalles, (East of Portland, Oregon)

SPRAGUE RIVER, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon's wildfire season took a turn to the north late Thursday when the Sheldon Ridge Fire grew to 3,000 acres and forced 200 homes near The Dalles to be evacuated.

The fire was reportedly a few miles southwest of the city and threatening expensive homes in the nearby hills.

City firefighters from Portland were sent to the area by mandate of the Conflagration Act, which allows the governor to ask for assistance of local firefighters when wildfire resources get low, said Jocelyn Biro, spokeswoman for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

Though the firefighters work in the city, they are also trained to fight wildfires, said Neil Heesacker, spokesman for the Portland Fire Bureau.

Earlier Thursday, a special investigation team went to Oregon's biggest wildfire to find out why 20 firefighters had to climb into their emergency shelters to escape flames.

There didn't appear to be any breakdown in procedures or communications that would account for firefighters resorting to what is generally considered a last-ditch survival tactic, but the investigation was a standard step after emergency shelters are deployed, said Marc Rounsaville, deputy area commander for the U.S. Forest Service.

"We want to get right on top of it so if we do need to make some adjustments we can do that," Rounsaville said.

Flames overran a Willamette Valley crew known as Ferguson 53 on Wednesday afternoon while they were fighting spot fires on the northern edge of the Winter Fire just off Oregon Highway 31 near Picture Rock Pass between Silver Lake and Summer Lake. Eleven firefighters were treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation and released from St. Charles Medical Center here.

They returned to fire camp in Silver Lake on Thursday, where the entire crew was going through crisis debriefing, said Rounsaville.

There was no word on when they would return to work on the Tool Box and Winter fires, which have burned together to cover more than 108,000 acres of sagebrush and timber on the Fremont National Forest between the south central Oregon communities of Silver Lake and Summer Lake.

Later the fire jumped the highway and threatened some homes near the community of Summer Lake, but firefighters stopped the advance, Rounsaville said.

The six-person investigation team includes personnel from the Forest Service's Technology Development Center in Missoula, Mont., which oversees improvements to fire shelters, Rounsaville said.

The firefighters were putting out spot fires along a logging road and had just been checked by a division supervisor when the fire made a run at them from the north side, he said.

They shook out their shelters, which look like a pup tent made of silvery foil, and climbed inside, laying face down on bare dirt in the fire line. They moved their shelters two or three times as flames jumped back and forth across the line, but were not in the shelters long before a supervisor told them it was safe to come out, Rounsaville said.

About 10 minutes later, a helicopter making bucket drops lost power and made an emergency landing on the other side of the fire line, Rounsaville said. The pilot walked away unhurt, but the helicopter, a UH-1H, remained on the ground, a fire line cut around it for protection.

A total of 16 major fires, all started by lightning, were burning across 220,000 acres of Oregon, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

In Klamath County, the Skunk Fire quickly grew to 1,600 acres about 17 miles southeast of Chiloquin, threatening 25 homes, five businesses and 30 outbuildings in a subdivision of the tiny town of Sprague River, said Kathy Fletcher, spokeswoman for the Klamath Falls Interagency Fire Coordination Center.

A voluntary evacuation order had been issued to Klamath Falls Estates, a 100-home, unincorporated subdivision of mobile homes, cabins and vacation homes, said Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger.

Twenty-seven people had decided to leave and were staying at the Sprague River Community Center, said Donna Upson, director of the Klamath/Lake chapter of the Red Cross.

Outside a local market, Roy and Tammy Miller, who fled their trailer Wednesday night, sat in their pickup and talked to neighbors.

"Everybody is checking with me because I'm the farthest one up the mountain," said Roy Miller, a painting contractor. "If I'm safe, everybody is safe."

This is the latest from KGW TV. They don't have an update this morning yet:

Lightning Strikes Have Firefighters on Edge
07/25/2002

By ABE ESTIMADA, kgw.com Staff

A wildfire outside of The Dalles exploded out of control late Thursday, and fire officials were recommending that outlying residents begin evacuating.

The Sheldon Ridge Fire was menacing homes on its northeast corner. Wasco County urged residents living on Wells Road, Upper Cherry Heights Road and Brown Creek Road to flee. The area encompasses more than three miles.

The Portland Fire Bureau also was sending 16 firefighters to battle the fire, along with three fire engines. Gresham also was sending an engine, and Corbett was sending a water tender.

Throughout the day, lightning strikes and threatening winds had kept fire officials on high alert across eastern and central Oregon.

The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland recorded about 900 lightning strikes between 6 a.m. Wednesday and 6 a.m. Thursday, said spokesman David Widmark.

The coordination center is focusing its aerial, satellite and ground surveillance on eastern Oregon around the Blue Mountains and an area of Oregon between Bend and The Dalles.

“When these lightning strikes go through, we track them on radar,” Widmark said. “We know where they’re at. That’s where we send observation aircraft and initial attack crews to go and patrol this area.”

The trouble is, lightning-sparked fires can smolder undetected for days or even weeks. When the humidity is low and the heat is high, “that sucker’ll kick off,” Widmark said.

A Sikorsky helicopter maneuvers over smoke-filled trees on the Cache Mountain Fire while battling one of Oregon's newest wildfires near Sisters. (AP Photo)

That scenario has played repeatedly this fire season. Thirteen major fires are burning 220,000 acres in Oregon (see map below).

Some 250,000 acres are ablaze in Oregon and Washington. About 10,379 firefighters are in Oregon battling the blazes.

The 2002 fire season, which is turning out to be worse than last year's, has cost about $55 million. Widmark warned the fire season will likely extend into mid-September.

When fire officials aren’t worrying about lightning, they’re concerned about the wind, which whip small blazes into infernos.

A lot of it is headed for eastern Oregon this afternoon, said Bruce Sussman, a KGW meteorologist.

Cooler temperatures washing in from the Pacific Ocean are driving winds to the east. Gusts could go to 30 miles per hour, Sussman said.

The good news is that cooler temperatures will aid firefighters, and the thunderstorms should taper off by this weekend.

Until then, firefighters aren’t “getting a break from the thunderstorms like they did (Wednesday) morning,” Sussman said. “They’re happening right now.”

Sheldon Ridge

The coordination center is mustering firefighters about six miles south of Mosier, Oregon to battle the 150 acre Sheldon Ridge wildfire. Because the fire could menace 400 homes if it isn't controlled, Sheldon Ridge is the No. 1 concern for fire officials.

So far, the wildfire is threatening up to 15 cabins. Lightning started the Sheldon Ridge blaze on Wednesday.

Liberals never discuss the blame when their agendas kill, maim or financially ruin innocent people.

It is our task to expose them as the prime cause of this hell on earth that used to be Oregon.

Starting with the Enviral Poster Boy Governor, Andy Kerr, the elite rulers of the Oregon Natural Resources Center, and all card carrying enviralists in Oregon, the blame must be centered and focused right on them until they lose their power and phoney prestige!

Then, the mediots who own and control the fish wraps and tv stations in Oregon are guilty of presenting the Watermelon agenda as the best thing for Oregonians. Now we see that the Watermelon agenda has made Oregon into a living hell.

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