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Thanks, now I'm getting the picture. I can't figure why my computer does the red x in a box for a while on some of your replies.

That is one hot area.

It's because my image server is slow and the image loading routine has a timeout limit. If it takes to long to load the image IE just gives up on it.

EBUCK

This appears to be a fairly decent update from the latest Curry Pilot edition, for today:

THURSDAY MORNING FIRE UPDATE

Published: August 1, 2002

Dear readers,

We're hearing little updates from fire camps today as crews continue to work on the Florence, Sour Biscuit and Shelly Creek fires. No new alerts or evacuation orders have been issued overnight.

A West Florence Fire Camp for several hundred firefighters has been established at the fairgrounds in Gold Beach.

Forest road closure information is expected to be issued later today.

Oregon forestry officials say no significant changes took place over night. No backfire and burnout has taken place and the dozer line has not been reinforced, as the winds are still unsteady and shifting. Their release says 141,000 acres burned; others say 150,000. The biggest challenge has been reducing the anxiety level of folks in the area and controlling rumor, officials said in their morning release.

At the north end of the fire, Mary Stansell of the U.S. Forest Service said an initial attack line will be established just south of Oak Flat and Indigo Prairie today. Individual structure protection continues in the Oak Flat area.

At the south end of the giant Florence Fire, she said flames are still 5.5 air miles from Wilderness Retreat. It has not progressed any further than Vulcan Peak and Red Mountain.

Overall, the Florence Fire has moved to within 4 miles of Game Lake on the west flank, to Silver Peak on the north flank, to within five miles of Selma and Cave Junction on the east flank, and to Chetco Peak on the south flank. Successful back-firing has taken place on the ridges five miles west of Highway 199 above the Illinois Valley.

The Sour Biscuit Fire stretches from five miles south of the Florence Fire to six miles south of the California border.

Spotters have been placed in many locations, including at Quail Prairie Lookout, and Wild Horse Lookout.

Another community meeting for Illinois Valley residents is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Illinois Valley High School. The Illinois Valley remains under a possible evacuation alert, and voluntary evacuation has been encouraged for families with elderly, small children or disabled.

In Crescent City, exhausted firefighters are sleeping in tents at the fire camp at Del Norte High School., where a total of 879 crew members have come from around the nation

Del Norte County Supervisors are expected to declare a local disaster area for regions affected by the fire at their meeting this afternoon.

And the Gold Beach tourism industry is stressing that they are still under sunny skies, no threat from the fires and open for business.

Some of the standing situations:

-- Highway 199 remains closed from Jed Smith State Park to the Oregon-California border because of the 700-acre Shelly Creek Fire near Patrick's Creek Lodge.

-- The Rogue River Trail is closed from Graves Creek to Foster Bar. The BLM has also closed the Rainy Falls Trail and the Kelsey Pack Trail, both off the Rogue River Trail.

-- A variety of updates and maps is available at several Web sites. Look for them in links to this story at The Pilot's Web site, www.currypilot.com