Posted on 08/01/2002 6:19:24 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Firefighters set own blazes in bid to corral wildfires
08/01/02
ALEX PULASKI and BETH QUINN
SELMA -- A column of thick smoke reared its head near this Southwest Oregon town at sundown Wednesday, proof that firefighters had begun an important counterattack.
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Bulldozer operators and hand crews had spent two days stitching together a 30-mile line in the dirt, but until Wednesday night, fickle winds had prevented them from setting their own fires to protect Oregon's Illinois Valley.
"The wind has just been too squirrelly," spokesman Tom Valluzzi said.
As incident commander Mike Lohrey explained to residents Tuesday night, the strategy against the approximately 183,000-acre Florence and Sour Biscuit fires is to use controlled burns to seal off the U.S. 199 corridor from the flames.
As winds and temperatures subsided Wednesday night, hillsides west of Selma began to glow with the newly set defensive fires designed to halt the main fire's advance by robbing it of fuel.
Shifting winds had kept daytime crews from setting fires that might turn on them and overrun Selma, which is about 20 miles southwest of Grants Pass, or nearby communities.
The 17,000 residents of the Illinois Valley are under a 30-minute evacuation alert, which means they have been asked to be ready to leave as soon as they are notified, although emergency workers intend to start the evacuation 12 to 24 hours ahead of the fire.
Hoaxers pretending to be civilians deputized by the Josephine County sheriff's department have been knocking on doors telling residents to leave immediately.
Officials said that the evacuation will be broadcast on local radio stations and that officials charged with notifying individual residents will be police officers or firefighters in uniform, driving emergency vehicles.
By today, the Illinois Valley will be sprouting new yellow signs spelling out in black: Escape Route. Oregon Department of Transportation officials plan to make U.S. 199 one way with two lanes heading north, and Oregon State Police and National Guard troops will be stationed at key intersections to allow traffic to enter from side roads. No one will be allowed to return.
The buffer against populated areas on the fire's east is the focus, but fire behavior analyst Erik Christiansen cautioned Wednesday that "the west side and the south side, we just don't have a handle on.
The new elite fire management team slated to take over the west side of the Florence fire near the Rogue River by Sunday could have its hands full.
"There could be some problems in Agness," said Lohrey, who noted that the blaze is burning within five miles of Bear Camp Road. "We've got quite a cushion over there, and we are assessing that today."
Fire officials have already closed the popular backcountry route between Grants Pass and Gold Beach to motor homes and trailers.
"They will close it to all traffic if that threat continues," Lohrey said.
From the air, the most visible fire activity for the past couple of days has been plumes rising about seven miles west of Selma. The fire was not as active Wednesday as it was during the weekend. But a curtain of smoke hangs from there south 25 miles to the California border and beyond, obscuring much of the 180,000-acre Kalmiopsis Wilderness.
"The wilderness is burning," Christiansen said. "We can't fight fire in there. It's too rugged."
Should the Florence fire reach Agness, Biscuit complex blazes will have torched portions of four of the nation's wild and scenic river areas. The Florence fire has already burned sections along the Chetco and Illinois rivers in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, including both sides of the river at the Illinois' famed white-water rapid, Submarine Hole.
The Sour Biscuit and Florence fires were still thought to be separated by two to three miles Wednesday.
"Every day they say they're going to run together, but there's an old burn there that keeps slowing it down," said John Fowler, planning section chief on the Sour Biscuit fire.
The Sour Biscuit fire has blackened areas along the Smith River in California's Six Rivers National Forest.
Sour Biscuit incident commander Paul Broyles said his crews will be ready to burn out a safety line along their end of the 30-mile "last ditch" bulldozer line when similar work is completed on the Florence fire to the north.
"We'll have one, hopefully, seamless east side," he said.
Fire experts warned that successful backfires alone won't protect threatened homes and communities because conditions still exist for a return of plume-dominated fire that could shoot spot blazes two to three miles ahead.
"Just the fact that we get the line in and black doesn't mean the Illinois Valley is safe," said Greg Gilpin of the Oregon Department of Forestry.
If either fire makes a run toward town, the air attack would include retardant bombers, and helicopters currently dropping water would switch to retardant drops.
"Air tanker support is available to us if we needed to get that in here," he said. "And we have the ability to get retardant into the ships we have."
Structural fire crews continued preparing against the possibility of the fire jumping lines by assessing and mapping homes and clearing away brush and trees from residences.
Ron Brood, 66, watched Wednesday as crews chain-sawed through junipers, muggo pines and ponderosa behind his home southwest of Selma.
"I thought if it was green it wouldn't be a problem," Brood said of trees and brush in his yard.
Nearby, on the eastern edge of Eight Dollar Mountain, bulldozer operator Chad Oilar pushed through foxtail and brush to cut a secondary defense line in case the primary line west of the mountain fails.
There's a special concern in Selma, which stands in the shadow of Eight Dollar Mountain, that the fire could enter the valley there.
"If it's going to come out, I'm predicting it's going to come out there to the valley floor," said Tony Sciacca of the operations team managing the Florence fire.
As of Wednesday morning, the fire was creeping down slopes one to two feet per minute, with 1- to 2-foot flames, but running up slopes at 70 to 80 feet per minute with 8-foot flames, said Christiansen, the fire behavior analyst. The fire was still six miles from the valley communities, but fire managers were wary because earlier this week the fire was moving one mile an hour, covering eight miles on Sunday alone.
After the fires of the year 2000, when 7 million acres burned, Babbit arranged for $2 Billion to be released for thinning projects.
Guess where the money went?
Lawyers. The RICOnuts sued nearly every project the USFS attempted. When the USFS settles they pay the RICOnuts for their costs. Now lest you think that the Forest Service bureaucracy wants it any other way, remember that 40% of the USFS budget is for legal expenses. More is spent satisfying consent decrees or documenting cases. ============================================================
So, you want Congress to appropriate the money for forest thinning. Why should we fund the enemy? Do you really think that a Federal Judge won't toss Dasshole's exemption? I'd bet he expects it.
Are you really so sure about that?
Remember, environmental law is authorized by treaties which supercede Federal Statutes. All this is, is a way for Dasshole to look good to his constituents for the election while accomplishing exactly NOTHING that would PO his real clientele.
Yes, we're heading up a week from tomorrow, have overnight reservations in Grants Pass. We're already getting our taste buds worked up for the excellent prime rib at The Brewery. I have bookmarked some of the sites, and also have KTVL out of Medford bookmarked as well.
We're definitely monitoring the situation very closely, but as you say, some of the lamestream media reports are so deceptive, it's hard to count on them. Thank goodness for you and this thread. It's the first place I go when I log onto FR.
EBUCK
This is from the article I posted to start this thread:
Officials said that the evacuation will be broadcast on local radio stations and that officials charged with notifying individual residents will be police officers or firefighters in uniform, driving emergency vehicles.
By today, the Illinois Valley will be sprouting new yellow signs spelling out in black: Escape Route. Oregon Department of Transportation officials plan to make U.S. 199 one way with two lanes heading north, and Oregon State Police and National Guard troops will be stationed at key intersections to allow traffic to enter from side roads. No one will be allowed to return.
EBUCK
This really shows how big and intense some of these fires are!
EBUCK
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