)EBUCK
Posted on 08/05/2002 7:37:46 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Fire Fight Hampered by Cooler Weather 08/05/2002
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
Firefighters trying to get a line around the massive Florence Fire hoped for rain Monday, but said they were nevertheless making good progress on corralling the blaze with a 200-mile containment line starting at the California border.
The 240,000-acre fire, located in the Siskiyou National Forest in southwestern Oregon, increased Sunday by more than 40,000 acres from burnouts alone, said Tom Valluzzi, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman. Burnouts are fires that are intentionally set behind dirt containment lines by crews hoping to rob the main blaze of its fuel.
Firefighters said they would conduct burns down the ridge to the river that runs behind the Woods' house and then burn another ridge on the other side of the property.
The family has been cutting trees and clearing brush around the ranch for five days and had a sprinkler on the roof, said Susie Wood.
"They said they felt that with the efforts we've been doing, they think we can save our place," she said. "I hope so -- you've got to have a positive attitude."
The ridge fire licked at the base of trunks, sometimes creeping up the sides in short spurts and other times torching the entire tree in seconds. The fire created its own wind that erupted in loud whooshes, like a jet taking off, every time a tree ignited.
Flames jumped around, sometimes crisping one side of a tree and leaving the other untouched, but they did not cross a foot-wide dirt line dug that morning to control the flames.
On the opposite ridge, crews used a new blasting technology to carve out a one- to two-mile containment line for the next day's burnout. Tubes of sausage-shaped explosives were laid down and then detonated from a distance, creating a huge explosion that sent clouds of gray smoke above the tree line.
"It was multiple explosions and it was pretty loud," said Bill Evans, 84, who lives two miles from the blast site. "I thought I'd go out there on my bicycle, but they said no way."
A total of 40 miles have been scorched with drip torches and flare pistols by hand crews working along the fire's eastern flank, where it threatens about 17,000 Illinois Valley residents.
There are about eight more miles to burn before the containment line reaches the California border, where another fire team takes over responsibility, said Tom Knappenberger, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman.
The Florence Fire was still about one to two miles Sunday from the 41,000-acre Biscuit Fire and fire officials expect the two blazes to merge in the next few days.
"We expect them to and it's OK if they do," said Mike Ferris, Forest Service spokesman. "We've been treating them like one fire already."
The threat to the Illinois Valley has dropped because of progress with burnouts and the cooler weather, said Ferris. A 30-minute evacuation order for 17,000 people was downgraded to a two-hour warning Saturday night, he said. That could be lowered to a 24- or 48-hour notice in the next few days.
"We're feeling pretty good about the reduced threat in these communities. It's starting to look like they have a minimal risk to them," Ferris said.
Meanwhile, another management team handling the fire's western flank from a command post in Gold Beach continued to prepare a containment line around the northern and western sides.
The fire crossed Indigo Creek to the north and was about three miles from Agness, a tiny whitewater outpost, by Sunday. Crews planned to link line from the west and east sides in the next few weeks.
The Bear Camp Highway, which runs from near Grants Pass to Agness, was closed indefinitely at midnight Sunday so it can be used as a secondary containment line around the fire's northern edge, Ferris said.
About $10.1 million has been spent on the Florence fire alone, said Knappenberger, the spokesman. The fire was about 5 percent contained Sunday night.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Online at: http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_0805_news_wildfires_oregon.5d4ed115.html
The west side of Klaamth Lake gets the green scum. They like to paddle their canoes around the marshes ejaculating every time they see a red winged blackbird. I make sure they know I'm out their to rake hooks through the trout that inhabit their cathedral.
I also love it when the afternoon winds kick up and their out their with nothing but a canoe - thats after I've failed to slow down and they've had to negotiate my boat wake.
)EBUCK
Same with katu.com except for this story:
August 5, 2002
Fire Destroys Log Chipping Plant
Near The Dalles
THE DALLES - Firefighters allowed a fire in a deck of logs and tons of wood chips at a mill here to burn itself out Sunday after a spectacular blaze destroyed most of the complex Saturday night.
Lt. Fred Coleman of Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue said firemen were patrolling downwind to watch for new fires and to protect what was left of Mountain Fir Chip Co.
"They're letting the logs burn," he said.
The wind carried burning chips and bark some 500 yards across the Columbia River to the unincorporated town of Dallesport, Wash., starting a fire there that grew to 70 acres before it was controlled. There was no structural damage reported.
Damage to Mountain Fir, which employed about 20 people, was estimated at $4 million.
The fire, which started in grass, spread to the logs and the mill and its hoppers. Firemen were able to save other structures at the plant and other businesses in the Port of The Dalles.
Cause of the fire has not been determined.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Don't be so sure..We have been exploring the issue of insurance lately and we've come to the conclusion that without insurers willing to insure rural homes the people will be moving out shortly. Hope it doesn't go that far but it's certainly possible and a brilliant tactical approach.
EBUCK
 |
08/02/2002
The Florence wildfire has grown so large that officials Friday drew an imaginary north-south line down the middle of the 80-mile-long blaze and split firefighting duties into two camps about 40 miles apart.
More than 1,200 firefighters and support staff are en route to Gold Beach to operate out of a new command post that will focus on fighting the fire's movement to the north and west.
A fire crew from Keizer, Ore., stays with their truck along U.S. Highway 199 as the Florence fire sends plumes of smoke skyward. (AP Photo) |
The eastern side will be managed from the established camp in Cave Junction, said Richard Nieto, branch director for the Florence Fire.
"The fire has become so large that it's too big for a single team to handle," said Rick Hartigan, fire spokesman in Gold Beach.
Fire crews from around the country have been trickling into tent camps in the area. They scrambled to prepare a common radio frequency, bring facilities for hot meals and form a list of crews and equipment to battle the fire's western flank.
After a limited presence earlier in the week, fire engines, hotshot crews and helicopters were seen Friday near Gold Beach and in the tiny outpost of Agness.
Dark, colorful smoke fills the sky over a Selma, Ore., home as the Florence fire continues to burn. (AP Photo) |
Nieto said wind gusts, uneven terrain and dense fuels were pushing the flames west and northwest.
Flames were about four miles from the tiny community of Wilderness Retreat in the fire's southwest corner and triage teams headed there Friday to assess and protect homes, he said.
The new command post is being set up at the Curry County Fairgrounds, displacing college summer courses that use the facility, said Janet Pretti, program coordinator for Southwestern Oregon Community College.
About 45 students will finish their last two weeks of class at the high school, she said.
Nikolas Granville, 11, and his sister Victoria Granville, 3, of Selma, Ore., look towards the mountains and a giant cloud of smoke. (AP Photo) |
Officials were waiting for a 10,000-gallon metal-framed water tank to hold water for helicopter drops on the fire's western and northern edges.
Firefighters must treat water pumped from the Illinois River with Clorox before they dump it on the burning forests because they are trying to prevent the spread of Port Orford cedar root disease, a devastating blight that has already infected several watersheds.
The river water will be pumped into the tank at 325 gallons a minute, then treated with one gallon of Clorox for every 1,000 gallons of water. Firefighters must also wash the wheels and undercarriage of their trucks with treated water before leaving the forest to prevent the disease from spreading.
The tank can fill about five helicopter buckets at a time, and will be refilled constantly, said Rick MacDonald, a U.S. Forest Service assistant fire management officer.
In Agness, a team of structural protection specialists said they had finished assessing about 50 houses in the area. About half could be saved if fire came through, said Paul Konzen, with Engine 53 from the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura, Calif.
Bulldozers, two hand crews and a hotshot crew worked Friday to complete three staggered containment lines around the fire's northern edge.
"It's moving in pulses," said Daniel Ramirez, also with Engine 53. "Today it might burn real good and then die down for a day or two."
Conditions in the woods were tough, firefighters said, and included run-ins with scorpions, rattlesnakes, "old growth" poison oak and tan oak, a plant that emits a dust that is poisonous to breath.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
You know it! But that's the point isn't it? To keep us from doing anything for ourselves and keep us on the gubment teat. Anyone able to operate outside the system is immediatley targeted to be pulled into the fold by way of legal restrictions etc., at taxpayer expense to boot. The basis of socialism is convincing people that they need gubment even though it's gubment that needs us to survive, not the other way around.
EBUCK
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