Replies

The latest on the fact that Oregon is Still Burning from KGW TV:

The news about the new Apple Fire and the Tiller Fire near JustShe is not good. It appears that these two fires will merge together. Sounds like a rerun of the Biscuit Florence Fire and the ones north of Klamath Falls last month.

Good news seems to be coming out on the massive Biscuit fire where the Green Druid Heaven, the Kalmiopsis Wilderness was before it burnt up. Lets hope that they can get it contained so that it will burn until the fall/winter rains come without endangering the two counties in Oregon.

Families Return Home After Spot Fire
08/21/2002

By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer

High humidities and light winds helped firefighters get a handle on the massive Biscuit Fire overnight, and by Wednesday crews had only 33 more miles of fireline to complete on the fire's active western flank.

"The fire is looking really good right now," said Jean Schaeppi, a fire spokesman with the National Parks Service. "We didn't have any active fire last night, just some smoldering of the trees."

Schaeppi said the fire could flare up in the afternoon because of a wind shift, but crews did not expect the dramatic spot fires crews saw Monday on the fire's north side.

Residents in the community of Agness were able to return home Tuesday after getting a scare when a spot fire erupted near there Monday.

"We're a little shaken," said Willis Crouse, a fishing guide and volunteer firefighter, who elected to stay with his wife, Deborah, to keep watch over their home while most of their neighbors left. "It was quite a show."

Operations continued to go well elsewhere on the fire, which was 50 percent contained at 489,279 acres since igniting from lightning July 13.

The blaze, which is burning in the Siskiyou National Forest in southwestern Oregon and northern California, is the biggest one to hit Oregon in more than a century. The cost of fighting it rose to $84.5 million, with 6,607 people involved.

Firefighters finished burnout operations Tuesday on the eastern half of the fire, which once threatened the 17,000 residents of the Illinois Valley. That allowed elite hotshot crews to be reassigned while mop-up operations continued 300 feet back from containment lines, said fire spokesman Mike Milosch.

"There is a much more optimistic feeling in camp," Milosch said.

The spot fire on the north side erupted Monday just as deputies were notifying the residents of the 15 homes along the Illinois River at the Oak Flat and Spud Road sections of Agness that an evacuation order in place since Thursday had been downgraded to a pre-evacuation notice.

Fire spokesman Wayne Johnson said firefighters had been clearing around a house Monday afternoon, and the crew boss mistakenly believed he had permission to burn off the debris. Wind whipped embers across the Illinois River. Helicopters and firefighters standing by controlled the spot fire at about 50 acres and no homes were lost.

"When (the fire) got to the other side, it was just like a blowtorch sitting at the bottom of the mountain," said Crouse. "They had crews on it all night. They foamed a couple of the houses here."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service battled a second fire that quickly grew to 6,500 acres on the Umpqua National Forest east of Roseburg, forcing highway and campground closures along the popular fly fishing section of the North Umpqua River.

Located 21 miles east of Glide, the Apple Fire was expected to continue growing to the east and south to eventually merge with the Tiller Complex, which was 45 percent contained after burning 59,400 acres.

Cool humid weather helped slow the spread of the fire, but fire commanders were struggling to get firefighters and equipment due to so many other fires burning.