Biscuit Fire Burnthrough, from www.biscuitfire.com
Posted on 08/14/2002 8:51:30 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Coastal air helps slow advance of western flank of Biscuit Fire, giving residents hope
By JEFF BARNARD, The Associated Press, 8/14/02 3:44 AM
BROOKINGS, Ore. -- Hot weather made life miserable for firefighters on the eastern flanks of the Biscuit fire, but moist marine air on the western side helped a small outback subdivision under an evacuation advisory.
"I don't think it will get here," Incident Commander Kim Martin said Tuesday while briefing a dozen residents of the Wilderness Retreat subdivision, located about 12 miles east of Brookings on the Chetco River. They stood in the shade of some fir trees and looked at a map of the fire burning on about 380,000 acres of the Siskiyou National Forest and adjacent lands in southwestern Oregon and northern California.
"I believe him," said Mark Steele, a highway flagger and woodcutter who has moved most of his furniture and other belongings out of his home. "Hopefully, the lines will hold."
The fire has been burning for a month since a lighting strike ignited it deep in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. With 6,300 people assembled from around the country, as well as Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the fire has cost $52,450,000 to fight so far.
The fire was 26 percent contained, with the most secure lines on the eastern and southern flanks. The threat to the 17,000 residents of the Illinois Valley continued to diminish, but an evacuation notice remained in effect warning people to be ready to leave.
Firefighters suffered through temperatures over 100 degrees on the eastern and northern flanks of the fire, where the fire moved up Indigo Creek closer to Bear Camp Road, the primary shuttle route for whitewater rafters on the wild and scenic section of the Rogue River.
"The heat makes it hard for the firefighters to work," said fire spokesman Tom Valluzzi. "They've got to carry twice as much water and take twice as many breaks. It's miserable."
On the northwestern flank, the fire slopped over containment lines and burned down the historical Snow Camp Mountain Lookout. Martin said a falling ember got inside the fireproof aluminum-coated fabric wrapped around the one-room structure to protect it.
"An era has passed," said fire spokeswoman Susan Mathison. "This is a great loss to the Siskiyou National Forest."
The mountaintop overlooking the Pistol River and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness was first used to spot fires in 1924, and a lookout stationed there during World War II witnessed a Japanese airplane that had been launched from a submarine drop a bomb in a failed attempt to ignite a forest fire. The most recent structure was built in 1959, and retired from service in 1972. It has been rented out to the public since 1990 and was the subject of a book.
On the northern edge of the fire, the Rogue River Canyon hamlet of Agness remained on evacuation alert, but the fire was still several miles away, Mathison said.
Now that firefighters are ready to begin burning out the network of logging roads, bulldozer lines and ridgetops standing in the way of the fire's western edge, the marine air has made ignition more difficult, just as similar conditions did last week on the eastern flank, Martin said. Hotshot crews setting the burnout fires have turned from working at night to working in daylight, when the fires will ignite more easily.
"We don't have this line totally secure yet," Martin said. "We haven't done any burnout."
Elsewhere, the Tiller complex of fires east of Roseburg, burning over 44,000 acres, remained a big concern to firefighters. It was about 40 percent contained.
The Eastern Side was hotter than Bill Clintoon going after an intern.
When it gets hot inland on the west coast, that sucks up the cooler and often foggy air from the coast and pulls it inland for a few miles. Hopefully this will continue for a day or two to allow the containment lines on the Western Side to be connected and put in where needed.
The fire has been burning for a month since a lighting strike ignited it deep in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. With 6,300 people assembled from around the country, as well as Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the fire has cost $52,450,000 to fight so far.
To bad that Andy Kerr, the Club Sierra Clymers of Oregon, the ONRC Clymers of Oregon and every Green Rat Oregon Politician like Kitz and Katz don't have to pay for this Green Financial Disaster!
Just another example of how dangerous the Green Jihadists Watermelons are to our society.
We can no longer afford to allow these Green Jihadists Watermelons to do this to America and us! Time to turn out the lights in their offices and send them home or to jail with zero of the illegal power they now have.
EBUCK
bttt
EBUCK
Heat records fall in western Oregon
The Associated Press
8/14/02 12:55 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Records were accumulating faster than beads of sweat Tuesday as at least 10 Oregon cities had afternoon temperatures of more than 100 degrees.
More than a dozen cities in the western part of the state set records, including Portland, which declared an "orange" air pollution warning because of high ozone levels.
The air quality warnings mean that state officials expect high temperatures and low-level winds, which mix with auto exhaust and other pollutants to create high levels of smog.
In Medford, smoke from forest fires mixed with the state's worst heat -- 108 degrees -- to create breathing woes.
"To add insult to injury, we're probably looking at some high ozone numbers here as well," said John Becker, an Oregon Department of Environmental Quality air quality expert in Medford. "Right now, the best advice is, if you've got smoke around you, try to take it easy."
Particle pollution, such as that from fires or diesel engines, is even more dangerous to health than ozone pollution, said Michael Heumann, an environmental epidemiologist for the Oregon Public Health Service. That's because particles carry chemicals on their surface and lodge in the lungs, he said, instead of being breathed out like other pollutants.
While wildfire smoke continued to cause problems in a few cities, such as Brookings, wind helped keep Klamath Falls, Eugene and other cities relatively free of smoke or ozone pollution.
Roseburg reached 107 degrees, the second hottest spot in the state, while Corvallis and Troutdale both hit 106, beating records that have stood since the drought-plagued summer of 1977.
Coastal cities were also hit hard by the heat wave. Astoria logged a 95-degree day, 9 degrees higher than the previous record. Tillamook also hit 95, beating its high by 11 degrees. Newport sweltered in 99-degree heat, blasting past its old record of 83 degrees, set Aug. 13, 1942.
But Florence was the hottest coastal spot, hitting 104 degrees. To the east, Eugene recorded the same temperature, and Salem also hit 104, edging out a 103-degree record for Aug. 13 that the capital set in 1920. Gorge winds didn't save The Dalles, which hit 102.
In Portland, the official high temperature as measured at Portland International Airport was 102 degrees, topping a 96-degree record set in 1992.
Pray for GW and the Firefighters
EBUCK
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