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

Oregon Live/ AP ^ | 7/26/02 4:04 AM | Flames force evacuations in The Dalles

[Grampa Dave]

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

By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press

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."

[MarMema]

Dang. I have a saanen buck around there somewhere that should be about 2 by now. Hope he and his family are ok.

[backhoe]

*VANITY* Anti-Enviral Bumper Sticker/FR fundraiser

[Dan12180]

Thanks for the info on the camp. I'll call the council offices at 8am, when they open.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

If they are evacuating, they may havein fo available now. Hope your son is safe.

[B Knotts]

A combination of loggers and goats could get our forests and wildlands into shape! :-)

[Grampa Dave]

They have really messed up Oregon with their interference.

Thanks for providing the phone #'s for Vickie.

[Grampa Dave]

Good! Stay safe and wet!

[joyce11111]

Thanks for all your postings on the wildland fires in Oregon.

[Grampa Dave]

In Oregon, their National Guard is busy fighting the watermelon fires.

Then too many good Oregonians own guns to worry about the need for martial law.

However, there is nothing that watermelon governor of Oregon would not do now to divert the blame of these infernos from him to evil conservatives like you and I!

[Grampa Dave]

You are welcome. You or someone needs to pump in the fire data from Washington to these threads.

[Grampa Dave]

This is a partial update on the fire that I have been watching as the prime example of the roadless, no harvest, no thinning to make a wilderness area into a tinder box, the Biscuit Fire:

Biscuit Complex

The Malheur Complex, along with the Biscuit Complex fires, have been top concerns for the coordination center in Portland.

Burning 17 miles southwest of Cave Junction, the Biscuit Complex has burned 17,750 acres and is zero percent contained. Firefighters there are asking for assistance from the Type-One firefighting team, an elite unit.

There are 734 firefighters at the Biscuit Complex. The blaze jumped the Illinois River on Wednesday night and headed south. It threatens homes at Oak Flats, and firefighters have been moved back to safety zones.

This is the pride of the ONRC and other Eco Facists re a wilderness where there are no roads, no harvesting of even dead trees. This was the crown jewel of the no nothing eco Fascists in the Oregon area.

When a fire jumps a river, it is really bad folks!

[Carry_Okie]

Food for thought from Leviticus 26:

And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:

I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.

And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.

And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.

And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;

Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;

Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.

And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.

And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.

[Grampa Dave]

I'm glad that I had breakfast before I read your "Food For Thought!"

Now I'm not hungry!

[Carry_Okie]

This is the pride of the ONRC and other Eco Facists re a wilderness where there are no roads, no harvesting of even dead trees. This was the crown jewel of the no nothing eco Fascists in the Oregon area.

There is knapweed in southern Oregon. I would bet that some of the firefighters are from Montana and Idaho where the stuff runs rampant. I have been told of fire camps where it came up thick wherever there was a tent. If they sprinkle the seed around on their boots and knapweed gets established, it will spread on the wind after this fire into a perfect growing medium. They may never get it back.

Never.

[Grampa Dave]

Okay, what is knapweed?

[Inspectorette]

Dittos! Please keep up the good work, Grampa.

Grampa, we will be heading up the I-5 from the Central Coast two weeks from today (family wedding in Vancouver, WA). We always stay in beautiful Grants Pass, about 10 hours north of us, on the way up, then it's only about 5 hours to Vancouver.

We're already considering the possibility of having to head coastward to the 101 if we have to, and maybe staying over in Gold Beach. What would be the best route for us from the I-5 to the 101 (either through Northern California or after we cross the border into Oregon)?

[jimtorr]

""My gosh, that is so sad. Almost glad my dad isn't alive to see this stuff going on these days. Well, wish he was here, but know he would be heartbroke. He loved the outdoors and the Cascades.""

I've been thinking the same. My father lived in Eugene from 1936 to 1997. He spent at least a month in the Cascades every year the whole time. He went fishing in the mountains and Wickiup Resevoir just three months before he died at the age of 84.

[dixiechick2000]

Thanks for the update, Gramps.
Weather forcast on TV last night said the wind from the northwest will be picking up through the gorge today.
This will fan the flames of the fire.
Not good news for the Dalles...

[Dan12180]

Thanks for the help. I called the sheriff's office in the Dalles and they said the camp is ok for now.

[Carry_Okie]

It's a perrennial version of starthistle capable of withstanding snow. Here is a brief description.

Impacts

Spotted knapweed reduces livestock and wildlife forage. Researchers found that spotted knapweed infestations decreased bluebunch wheatgrass yield by 88%. Elk use, as estimated by pellet groups/acre, was reduced by 98% on spotted knapweed-dominated range compared to bunchgrass-dominated sites.

Spotted knapweed dominance on bunchgrass rangeland is also detrimental to water and soil resources. John Lacey, MSU Extension, determined that surface water runoff and stream sediment yield were 56% and 192% higher, respectively, for spotted knapweed-dominated sites compared to bunchgrass-dominated sites. Water infiltration rates were less on spotted knapweed sites than on bunchgrass sites.

Biology and Ecology

Spotted knapweed is a perennial that lives up to nine years and is capable of producing seeds each year. Seed production of spotted knapweed ranges from 5,000 to 40,000 seeds per square meter per year. Site conditions and precipitation during the growing season have the greatest effect on the number of seeds produced per year. More seeds are produced during wet years.

Seeds germinate in the fall and early spring when moisture and temperature are suitable. Fall and early spring germinating seedlings are capable of maturing into seed-producing adults in one year. Seedlings develop into rosettes; most root growth occurs at this stage. If rosettes do not bolt, they die back to the root crown to overwinter. Root crowns form rosettes in the early spring and bolt in early June and flowering occurs from July through September. Mature seeds are formed by mid-August. Most spotted knapweed seeds are shed upon maturity; very few overwinter in the seedheads.

SPREAD

Spotted knapweed populations are largely extended through peripheral enlargement of existing stands. Bracts of the flowerheads open when dehydrated, two to three weeks after maturity, and wind or passing animals can flick the loosely held seeds up to one yard from the parent plant. Long distance transport occurs when seeds become attached to passing animals, or by rodents and birds. Spotted knapweed flowerheads also become attached to the undercarriages of vehicles, are transported long distances in mud, and commonly become attached to or drop into shoes. Seeds of spotted knapweed spread through rivers and along watercourses and are transported in crop seed an hay.

HABITAT

Spotted knapweed infests soils of all types but especially likes welldrained soils which are common in Park County. It tends to grow in open and disturbed areas but will take over range sites no matter what their condition. Spotted knapweed can and will take over a range site unless control activities are undertaken by the landowner. Housing development sites are ideal for Knapweed because of the disturbance, vehicle traffic, and over or under grazed rangeland. Also these development sites tend to be on welldrained areas.

What the article doesn't say is the most serious problem. Knapweed produces a pre-emergent hormone that prevents native plants from germinating. Because the soils around the plant are more sparsely populated with grasses and groundcovers, knapweed accelerates erosion, in some places by more than 130%.