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In the early afternoon of Saturday, July 13, a lightning storm began in the northwest corner of California, crossed the state line into Siskiyou National Forest in southwest Oregon, and moved northeast toward Crater Lake sparking dozens of small fires in its wake. Several of these fires on the Siskiyou grew large and merged together, becoming the biggest wildfire in Oregon history – a mega-inferno that has consumed close to half a million acres of forest land, including nearly the entire 180,000-acre Kalmiopsis Wilderness, and in late July caused the 17,000 residents of the Illinois Valley to be placed on...

Apple Fire Update: September 03, 2002: Fire Information: (541)496-0235 Size: 13,595 acres Started: August 16, 2002 Containment: 75 percent Expected Containment: September 5 at 6:00 p.m. Line to build: 3 miles Location: 21 miles east of Glide near the area of Dry Creek Resources Assigned: 27 crews, 10 helicopters, 27 engines, 20 watertenders, 7 dozers. Total 912 personnel. Objectives: Keep the fire south of the North Umpqua River, west of Twin Lakes and 4770 Road, east of Panther Ridge, and north of a line between Lake in the Woods and Snowbird Mountain. Ensure firefighter and public safety, make management decisions...

In the last essay, titled "Paul Bunyan Meets Sierra Sue Happy and the Democrats," we learned that Paul Bunyan, as well as many other American folk heroes, were being deconstructed and then reconstructed into politically correct social icons by leftist groups like the Sierra Club aka Sierra Sue Happy. We found out that the Democratic Party has become the legislative arm of the radicalized environmental movement. We learned that 6 million acres of Western forests have burned to the ground, some of it to bedrock. This will ensure that some of those forests may take generations to grow back. That...

WINDS PUSH BISCUIT FLAMES OVER LINE Published: August 31, 2002 By Bill Lundquist, Pilot Staff Writer Chetco Effect weather conditions pushed the Biscuit Fire Wednesday afternoon over a contingency fire line near Tolman Ranch, but no structures were lost. Alaska Incident Management Team Information Officer Bill Beebe said crews were moved back and helicopters dropped water. Mike Frazier, with the U.S. Forest Service, said the area around Tolman Ranch has been cleared and protected, so there should be no danger to structures. Due to the increased fire activity, the estimated containment date has been moved to Sept. 6. In North...

Fire-It's Coming to A Forest Near You Mariah Wilson (c) 2002 mariahwilson@yahoo.com Do you love the Mountain West? The incomparable scenic vistas? The incredible parks? The way the wind rustles through the trees? Do you have special forest places that you like to visit again and again? Do you love it so much that you live in the mountains? That you built your whole life around the experience of living with trees, flora and fauna? Well, take a good look at it while you can. In fact, better take a trip this summer. Don't put it off. Don't wait. Take...

 The federal government is great at bothering the American people with a never ending barrage of laws, rules and regulations. Yet, they cannot seem to take responsibility for anything, no matter how much they mess up. This year alone, due to a mishmash of very stupid environmental laws and regulations, the federal government is responsible for allowing over 6.2-million acres (9,688 square miles) of good timber to burn. That's about double the annual average and this is still just August. The federal government took possession, unconstitutionally, of 196 million acres (over 306,000 square miles, total -- for comparison, the State...

New mapping drops Biscuit fire below half-million-acre mark By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press 8/30/02 12:32 PM GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Based on closer mapping, the size of the massive Biscuit Fire dipped below the half-million-acre mark Friday as firefighters built the last bits of containment lines to securely encircle the blaze. Burning since July 13 when lightning raked the Siskiyou National Forest, the Biscuit Fire stood at 499,780 acres, down from 500,068 acres, and remained 90 percent contained, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Miera Crawford. Full containment was projected for Wednesday. The delay in full containment was caused...

Red Flag Warning/Fire Weather Watch Information ZZZ000-291358-FNUS56 KMFR 281355 FWFMFR FIRE WEATHER FORECAST FIRE WEATHER OFFICE MEDFORD, OR FORECASTER: WOLF 700 AM PDT WED AUG 28 2002 A RED FLAG WARNING CONTINUES THIS MORNING FOR GUSTY NORTHEAST WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY ACROSS THE RIDGES OF FIRE WEATHER ZONES 618, 619 AND 620... DISCUSSION...A THERMAL TROUGH ALONG THE SOUTHERN OREGON COAST WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE GUSTY NORTHEAST WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES OVER THE RIDGES OF EXTREME SOUTHWEST OREGON THIS MORNING. THIS AFTERNOON THE THERMAL TROUGH WILL WEAKEN AND SHIFT INLAND BRINGING AN END TO RED FLAG WARNING CONDITIONS OVER...

Containment nearing on Biscuit Fire By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press 8/27/02 10:48 AM GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- The nation's biggest wildfire this year, the Biscuit fire in southwestern Oregon, passed the 500,000-acre mark on Tuesday as firefighters closed in on containment and some crews were sent to other fires. Only 10 miles of fire line remained to be strengthened with burnout operations, raising the total acreage to 500,023 acres, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Jean Schaeppi. Started by lightning strikes July 13, the fire remained 90 percent contained, with full containment expected Aug. 31. Containment means fire commanders...

Biscuit Fire expected to be contained Monday August 25, 2002 PORTLAND - Fire bosses say they expect full containment on the Biscuit Fire in southwest Oregon by tomorrow. That's when they predict they can have the 300-mile line around the fire completed. The fire has burned nearly 500,000 acres since lightening started it about six weeks ago. However fire information officer Susan Mathison says containment does not mean the fire is out. She says it could still ignite and spread until the first serious rain. She said interior burning within the fire line, which ranges from one foot to 30...

<p>"While visiting the west coast this week, I saw the destructive effects of one of the worst wildfire seasons in history," Bush said in his weekly radio address.</p> <p>"As we work to put out the fires and bring relief to their victims, we also have a responsibility to prevent the devastation that can be caused by future fires," he added.</p> <p>Bush said U.S. forest policy needed to focus on thinning out trees to reduce the incidence and damage from wildfires. He characterized the current U.S. forest policy as a, "hands-off approach" that was "devastating to our environment."</p>

Biscuit fire nearly surrounded 08/24/02ALEX PULASKI Firefighters pushed control lines closer around the Biscuit fire Friday, and hope to have its 240-mile perimeter sewn up by this weekend. From Our Advertiser Twenty-plus miles of line remained to be built around the Biscuit blaze, the biggest fire in the United States this year. The most critical stretch remains along the fire's western edge, near the Pistol River. Randy Shepard, a fire spokesman, said 10 hand crews were pressing south in rough terrain. Aided by bulldozers and three crews working toward the north to meet them, firefighters hope to tie the two...

JOSEPH PERKINS New thinking on managing nation's forests? Joseph Perkins SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE August 23, 2002 President Bush was in the Pacific Northwest yesterday where he unveiled a new forest management plan that aims to prevent the kind of catastrophic wildfires that have charred nearly 6 million acres this year. That have destroyed more than 2,000 homes and buildings, sent tens of thousands of people fleeing for refuge and taken the lives of 20 brave firefighters. That have laid waste to hundreds of millions of trees, destroyed wildlife habitat, and damaged forest soils and watersheds for decades to come. Even...

Here we go folks. Our anonymous FR bennifactor has kicked in $870 to get our Medford / Central Point Bulletin Board up! Imagine it....some dirty little green watermelon driving north after a long hard day filled with protesting and what's that up ahead? Why it's a Bulleting Board that reads...Sound good. Well what if that BB stayed there right up until ELECTION DAY? That would be even better.This is a golden opportunity!

Fires burning across Oregon The Associated Press8/23/02 10:22 AM Major wildfires were burning on about 565,362 acres in Oregon on Friday. About 8,944 firefighters were fighting five major fires around the state. The Northwest Interagency Communication Center is tracking five major fires in Oregon. Top priorities for fire officials Monday were the Biscuit fire, covering 492,342 acres, the 7,400-acre Apple fire and the 62,200-acre Tiller Complex. BISCUIT FIRE (formerly called Florence Fire; name changed on 8/11/02) Started: Florence fire started 26 miles west of Grant Pass, 07/13/02; Sour Biscuit started 17 miles southwest of Cave Junction. Size: 492,342 acres. Containment:...

Bush's message to Oregon: His forest plan equals jobs 08/23/02, TOM DETZEL "Times are tough, but let me tell you something -- so is America," he added. Bush issued a stinging critique of the forest policies that led to this year's record fire season -- policies expected to cost taxpayers more than $1.5 billion for fire suppression. Nationwide, nearly 6 million acres, an area the size of New Hampshire, have burned. He said red tape, regulations and "endless litigation" have become the tools for delaying worthwhile thinning projects. His plan would allow emergency thinning in the highest-risk areas while speeding...

To the dismay of environment-destroying "environmentalists," President Bush today shifted federal policy toward thinning national forests to reduce the risk of wildfires. "The forest policy of our government is misguided policy. It doesn't work," Bush told cheering residents outside Medford, Ore., near the state's largest fire on record. "We need to thin. We need to make our forest healthy by using some common sense. "We need to understand that if we let kindling build up and there's a lightning strike, you gonna get yourself a big fire. That's what we gotta understand." It makes sense to clear brush, he...

AUGUST 22, 09:40 ET Bush Unveils Plan to Fight Wildfires By JENNIFER LOVEN Associated Press Writer CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — Embarking on a three-day Western swing expected to haul in at least $5 million for Republican politicians, President Bush is taking a stand on one of the region's thorniest issues by proposing that more logging in national forests would help prevent devastating wildfires. Bush was traveling Thursday from his Texas ranch to southwestern Oregon, near the California state line, for a briefing on local fires that have ravaged the area and an aerial view of the damage. The president was...

Bush to push for thinning The Associated Press, 8/21/02 4:21 AM MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) -- President Bush will address forest health issues when he visits Medford on Thursday, most likely pushing for more intensive thinning of Western forests to reduce fire danger. When they reach Medford, the president and U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith will receive a briefing on Oregon wildfires, according to Joe Sheffo, Smith's press secretary. Bush and Smith will then be taken on a tour of the area burned by the Squire fire southeast of Ruch. The fire scorched nearly 3,000 acres of public and private land after...

Intended Consequences: Natural Process v. Environmental Arrogance By Sean FinneganPublished 08. 19. 02 at 18:58 Sierra Time Sean Finnegan, who reported regularly from Klamath Falls for The Sierra Times, will be providing exclusive coverage of the Sawgrass Rebellion - the convoy headed toward Florida. As expected, The Sierra Times will provide regular coverage of this event. Finnegan begins his series on the battles in the Western States.DISPATCHES:· In the early morning of October 18, 1998, fire destroyed five buildings and four ski lifts in Vail, Colorado. Two days later an underground terrorist group known as the Earth Liberation Front...