30-mile fire front menaces southwest Oregon towns

CAVE JUNCTION -- Wildland firefighters battled to keep a 30-mile-long wall of fire from reaching the Illinois Valley on Monday where 17,000 people were warned to get ready to flee.

As the 70,000 acre Florence fire roared south toward the 20,000-acre Sour Biscuit blaze, firefighters dug a last-ditch fire line stretching along the western edge of the valley and southwestern Oregon communities.

Sixteen bulldozers worked the line on the steep ridges west of Woodrat, Tennessee and Eight Dollar mountains while 14 more wait along U.S. 199 in Selma, awaiting orders to join the fire fight.

Firefighters are preparing to set a 34,000-acre backfire that would be larger than most of the other fires being fought in Oregon.

"We are running dozers 24 hours a day," said Rick Hartigan of the Arizona Central West Zone Incident Management Team overseeing the firefighting.

If the fire hits the bulldozed line, they'll bombard it with fire retardant and water, but even with all that, fire officials told residents Sunday night, they weren't confident they could stop it.

"There is a very good chance that this fire is going to reach the valley floor," said Greg Gilpin, an incident commander for Oregon Department of Forestry. "It is so big and so awesome there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop this fire."

Fire officials warned area residents that the fire could reach the floor of the Illinois Valley today in a third straight day of extreme fire behavior.

Throughout the weekend and into Monday, the head of the Florence fire advanced a mile an hour with 150-foot flames and wind gusts up to 40 mph that threw spot fires up to two miles ahead. Three times the fire built plumes 30,000 feet tall and three times those plumes collapsed back into the fire with explosive force, further spreading the blaze.

"We have veteran firefighters who have never seen such fire behavior," said Hartigan.

"The forestry people all have their eyes rolled back," said Tim Birr of the Oregon Fire Marshal's overhead team. "This fire is kind of like the proverbial 5,000-pound gorilla that goes wherever it wants to go."

On the floor of the mountain-ringed Illinois Valley, firefighters went door-to-door on U.S. 199 from Selma to Kerby. At each spot the firefighters took a location fix with a global positioning system to add each building to the maps used for fire planning.

In addition, the structure firefighters assessed the defensibility of each house, noting which had fireproof roofs and brush-free zones that could be defended against fire and which were overgrown with trees and shrubbery and might be impossible to save.

"In cases where a home can be made more defensible, if they can take some simple steps, they will do it," said Birr.

But even homes that are well-prepared can fall victims to the flames, as two homeowners in Oak Flat learned Sunday. All 12 homes along the Illinois River had been singed on Thursday but survived, yet when the fire moved back through the area Sunday, two homes burned. Another home was lost at McCaleb Ranch along with eight outbuildings.

"There's higher percentage of nondefensible homes," said Kyle Kirchner, chief of the Illinois Valley Fire District and Josephine County Fire Defense Board. Homeowners are "interested now in getting defensible space, and it's too late."

Fire officials began making contingency plans for safety zones where firefighters and residents could find shelter should evacuation routes be cut.

Two of the four routes out of the valley to the south have already been cut off by other fires in Northern California. The only exits are north on U.S.199 to Grants Pass and by a remote forest road from Upper Deer Creek near Selma over the 5,000-foot crest of the Siskiyou Mountains to Williams.

"If it comes across through Selma and compromises that artery, we are preparing to shelter in place," said Kirchner. "We can now see the fire from Selma. As far as I'm concerned, it's imminent."

Fire shelters were being set up at the closed Selma School in Selma and the Illinois Valley High School in Cave Junction, both buildings made of materials designed to withstand fires that sit amidst several acres of cleared, defensible space. A third fire shelter planned for O'Brien had not been designated by early Monday evening.

With bulldozers working feverishly on smoke-shrouded ridges to build the last-ditch line to protect the communities under his care, Kirchner's thoughts turn to a new set of nightmare scenarios should the last-ditch line fail to hold the Florence fire.

"If it goes, now we're worried about the caves," he said, referring to the Oregon Caves National Monument 16 miles east of Cave Junction. "There's enough volatile dry fuel that we're going to have problems."

The fire is also moving northwest. Fire officials projected the blaze could reach homes outside Agness by Wednesday. It would have to jump the Rogue River to burn the town itself, but the fire, fueled by strong winds, has jumped the Illinois River several times, said Pam Leschak, Florence fire information officer.

A structure protection team was already assessing homes and removing brush and trees from around structures south of the Rogue River near Agness on Monday.

An 80-acre blaze closed a section of U.S. 199 near the Oregon/California border Monday. The Shelly Creek fire, burning up the steep canyon walls, was causing boulders and logs to fall onto the road, said Carol McCall, spokeswoman, Redwood National State Parks.

The fire also forced the evacuation of Patrick Creek Lodge, Patrick Campground, Bar-O-Boys Ranch, and a few houses near Gasquet, 20 miles northeast of Crescent City, Calif., in the Smith River Canyon. You can reach Beth Quinn at 541-474-5926 or by e-mail at bquinn@terragon.com.

As predicted, the Green Jihadists at the ONRC have removed from their servers the following re their no road agendas in Oregon. That is part of the 3 legged program to create these terrible tinder box fires.

First they close the roads, then they stop all logging including even logging of dead trees, and then they stop the removal of brush.

I posted this last week and predicted that these Green Jihadists of ONRC would remove it from their servers.

Prepared by: Southwick Associates for the: Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

ONRC Press Release 09/07/00: Economic Health is Tied to Wilderness and National Monument Protection

New report shows community economic health is associated with roadless and protected lands August 15, 2000 Acknowledgements

This study was produced by Southwick Associates for the Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The primary author was Dr. Paul Lorah with co-authorship provided by Rob Southwick. Professional comments and critical review were provided by Dr. John Bergstrom of the University of Georgia, Dr. Rebecca Johnson of Oregon State University, Dr. John Loomis of Colorado State University, and Ernie Niemi of ECONorthwest. The authors wish to thank the many who provided invaluable assistance including Ken Rait and Tim Lillebo of the ONRC; Dr. Dominick Della Sala and Dale Hile of the WWF, and Pete Morton of The Wilderness Society. Special thanks also goes to Tom Sadler of Two Dogs Trading Company. Despite the countless people who assisted in this study, the authors remain solely responsible for all content herein.

Executive Summary The purpose of this study is to help improve understanding of the relationship between economic growth and protection of roadless lands. This was accomplished using historical data regarding the economic experience of individual western and Oregon counties. By looking to the past to see how county economies were affected by the creation of wilderness areas, we gain a better understanding of how future roadless designations might affect Oregon counties. Similarly, by investigating the relationship between protected areas (wilderness, national parks and national monuments) and local economies, we can find whether limiting extractive activities on public lands limits county-level economic growth.

The issues that were examined and the major results are as follows:

In Oregon, the relationship between the environment and the economy is changing. Industries that extract raw materials are stagnating, while industries that benefit from the presence of environmental amenities are growing rapidly.

If economic sectors benefiting from environmental amenities are more important sources of economic growth than extractive industries, then the presence of roadless areas and wilderness, national parks and national monuments should not harm local economies. In fact, in the eleven western states including Oregon, the presence of protected lands (wilderness, national parks, and national monuments) and roadless areas is associated with income and employment growth:

Now for the Cluster Bohica summary:

The cluster analysis test indicates that the presence of Forest Service roadless or protected areas is not correlated with slower income or employment growth in any of the county clusters. This means that the statistical test could not find any indication that roadless or protected areas have caused county economies to grow slower. Instead, there is evidence that for some county types the presence of roadless areas is correlated with income and employment growth.

Folks this is the Enviral Bravo Sierra that has led to Oregon's high rate of recession, companies leaving Oregon and the fire situation in the forests and other areas.

The area burning in the Biscuit/Florence fires was their prime new Druid Cathedral. Now it threatens the safety of 17,000 people in an uncontrolled wild fire!

The answer is not higher employment when you stop roads into areas and make these forests/lands into Druid Cathedrals where no one can enter. The end result are the fires that we are seeing now and the incredible recession and unemployment that Oregon having due to this enviral Bravo Sierra stuff of closing roads and no lumber or ore businesses.

The Green Jihadists have crippled the Oregon economy with their agendas. Now they have 17,000 families in a clear and present danger!

Green agendas can kill you, maim you or destroy your homes, farms, ranches and businesses. Green Jihadists are not our friends. They are Eco Terrorists who hate us!

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