As the 70,000 acre Florence fire roared south toward the 20,000-acre Sour Biscuit blaze, firefighters dug a last-ditch fire line stretching along the western edge of the valley and southwestern Oregon communities.
Sixteen bulldozers worked the line on the steep ridges west of Woodrat, Tennessee and Eight Dollar mountains while 14 more wait along U.S. 199 in Selma, awaiting orders to join the fire fight.
I heard by phone this morning that the combined burn acreage of these two fires is over 100,000 acres or 156.25 square miles or an area 78 by 78 miles has burned with about 30 people on Free Republic even aware or caring about it and most important the 17,000 innocent women, children and men in that area who are in Harm's Way!
Firefighters are preparing to set a 34,000-acre backfire that would be larger than most of the other fires being fought in Oregon.
John a 34,000 acre backfire is an area equal to 53.125 square miles or bigger than a square 7 miles by 7 miles. Most cities don't occupy that much space. "We are running dozers 24 hours a day," said Rick Hartigan of the Arizona Central West Zone Incident Management Team overseeing the firefighting.