Posted on 07/26/2002 6:24:57 AM PDT by 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."
44 posted on 7/26/02 8:37 AM Pacific by Ernest_at_the_Beach
8:37 is an early breakfast? :)
If it is still smokey in Oregon, I would drive right up 101 and spend the night in Gold Beach or Brookings. Then you can check which cross roads to take that morning.
Potential fires off the I-5 in California in two weeks IS becoming a concern - we will monitor the situation,stay in touch with all of you good people and be ready to head on up the 101 all the way to Gold Beach. We wouldn't even mind driving all the way up the Coast as far as Lincoln City, then east on Highway 18, except that it is so much slower and the wedding is at 4:00 Saturday.
We got caught Christmas of '92 heading home when the I-5 was closed because of snow from Ashland to Redding, and had to take the 101 all the way home. Slick, slippery, and scary all the way to Ukiah.
Then, this past Thanksgiving, we left Grants Pass Saturday morning at 0600 (having driven from Orcas Island, WA the day before) and it was raining. By the time we got to Ashland, there were semis stuck all over the I-5 on the mountain. Once finally south of the Oregon border, no snowplows because it was a weekend. We didn't get to Redding until 1100. On a trucker's advice we got off the I-5 at Henley, and took the Klamath River Highway into Yreka. Thank goodness for him, saved us a lot of grief, but it was still a mess all the way to Mountain Gate, likewise for the Northbound.
Mr. Inspectorette looked at it as an adventure and fell in love all over again with his Dodge Durango; I was white knuckles all the way ;-)
The fire was reportedly a few miles southwest of the city and threatening expensive homes in the nearby hills.
Take a threat to an expensive community for the gov to call in the reserves. Soem of his donors must live there.
EBUCK
However, right now, you've got quite a conflagration in the Illinois Valley.
If I were you, and wanted to avoid any smoky areas, I'd stick to the coast as far as Newport, and then cross over to I-5 via U.S. 20 through Corvallis. Ore.-34 is a bit shorter out of Waldport, but the road is not as good.
Ore.-18 from Lincoln City is a faster, more direct route, but on weekends, the traffic is very heavy, and you have to go through congested suburbs to get to the freeway.
EBUCK
EBUCK
EBUCK
Take care and I leave everyone with this simple Just Do It message re Ebuck's great new bumper sticker:
Do you despise what Tommy Da$$hole and other enviral rat senators have done to America re the fire potential in our forests?
Are you tired of the Green Enviral Terrorists endangering your homes, your families, the homes of your friends and the lives of your friends with their anti human agendas?
Well do something about it!
Here is something that every Freeper in America can do today that will help get our message out that enough is enough from these Green Eco Terrorists who hate America and Americas!
Just do it!
Order some of these stickers from EBUCK. Then, send stickers to Da$$hole and other enviral senators. This will let them know that we know who is responsible for these out of control fires, them! The a$$hole governor from Oregon should receive about 1,000 of these stickers from all over America!
Then send stickers to our good guys and gals in congress and as governors who are fighting these enviral scumbags.
Invest $10 and buy 5 stickers. Put them on your SUV/pickup/gas guzzler's bumper and let the world know why we are having fires.
These fires are not just a problem of the west. If you have forests in your state, you have the same problem thanks to Tommy Da$$hole and his enviral buddies!
The incestual link between rat senators up for reelection this November and the vile enviralists can cost them their election. Please buy some of these sticker and use them.
Here is the opportunity for all good Freepers to get into the face of the enviral fascists who have put a large part of our nation into the peril of becoming a flaming tinderbox.
Ebuck has created a great bumpersticker to put the blame on these clymers as we drive our SUV's and pickups. (Link to EBuck's Sticker and how to buy them) 
(link to EBuck's Sticker and how to buy them)
As that ad says, "Just Do It!" Freepmail or email EBuck now and let him know how many stickers you want and that a check from you is on the way.
The home you save from burning may be yours, a relatives, a friends or even one of our homes, your extended Freeper Family.
Please send this reply to your bump lists so more Freepers will be aware of this National Clear and Present Danger, due to these Eco Terrorists.
Just do it!
LOL - I can relate. One upshot of our trip last Thanksgiving was that we originally were going to fly to Seattle, but cancelled due to all the airport craziness after September 11 - figured, what the heck, we've driven up lots of times.
Grampa, Bknotts, EBUCK - thanks for the advice. We may end up doing just that - 101 all the way to Newport. I just hope there's something left of Oregon by the time we go :-(
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