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Here is the first real West Side story and plan of the Wilderness Fire from KGWTV and the AP:

Crews to Attack Fire's West Flank
08/02/2002

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer

The Florence wildfire has grown so large that officials Friday drew an imaginary north-south line down the middle of the 80-mile-long blaze and split firefighting duties into two camps about 40 miles apart.

More than 1,200 firefighters and support staff are en route to Gold Beach to operate out of a new command post that will focus on fighting the fire's movement to the north and west.

A fire crew from Keizer, Ore., stays with their truck along U.S. Highway 199 as the Florence fire sends plumes of smoke skyward. (AP Photo)
The fire west of Silver Peak will be renamed the West Florence Fire.

The eastern side will be managed from the established camp in Cave Junction, said Richard Nieto, branch director for the Florence Fire.

"The fire has become so large that it's too big for a single team to handle," said Rick Hartigan, fire spokesman in Gold Beach.

Fire crews from around the country have been trickling into tent camps in the area. They scrambled to prepare a common radio frequency, bring facilities for hot meals and form a list of crews and equipment to battle the fire's western flank.

After a limited presence earlier in the week, fire engines, hotshot crews and helicopters were seen Friday near Gold Beach and in the tiny outpost of Agness.

Dark, colorful smoke fills the sky over a Selma, Ore., home as the Florence fire continues to burn. (AP Photo)
Fire commanders have been concentrating on the fire's eastern flank because of the threat to 17,000 residents in the Illinois Valley. Crews now seem to be gaining the upper hand on that part of the fire, although the threat isn't over.

Nieto said wind gusts, uneven terrain and dense fuels were pushing the flames west and northwest.

Flames were about four miles from the tiny community of Wilderness Retreat in the fire's southwest corner and triage teams headed there Friday to assess and protect homes, he said.

The new command post is being set up at the Curry County Fairgrounds, displacing college summer courses that use the facility, said Janet Pretti, program coordinator for Southwestern Oregon Community College.

About 45 students will finish their last two weeks of class at the high school, she said.

Nikolas Granville, 11, and his sister Victoria Granville, 3, of Selma, Ore., look towards the mountains and a giant cloud of smoke. (AP Photo)
"This is a small town and everybody shares, so it'll be working out just fine," Pretti said as she watched officials scramble to install eight temporary phone lines.

Officials were waiting for a 10,000-gallon metal-framed water tank to hold water for helicopter drops on the fire's western and northern edges.

Firefighters must treat water pumped from the Illinois River with Clorox before they dump it on the burning forests because they are trying to prevent the spread of Port Orford cedar root disease, a devastating blight that has already infected several watersheds.

The river water will be pumped into the tank at 325 gallons a minute, then treated with one gallon of Clorox for every 1,000 gallons of water. Firefighters must also wash the wheels and undercarriage of their trucks with treated water before leaving the forest to prevent the disease from spreading.

The tank can fill about five helicopter buckets at a time, and will be refilled constantly, said Rick MacDonald, a U.S. Forest Service assistant fire management officer.

In Agness, a team of structural protection specialists said they had finished assessing about 50 houses in the area. About half could be saved if fire came through, said Paul Konzen, with Engine 53 from the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura, Calif.

Bulldozers, two hand crews and a hotshot crew worked Friday to complete three staggered containment lines around the fire's northern edge.

"It's moving in pulses," said Daniel Ramirez, also with Engine 53. "Today it might burn real good and then die down for a day or two."

Conditions in the woods were tough, firefighters said, and included run-ins with scorpions, rattlesnakes, "old growth" poison oak and tan oak, a plant that emits a dust that is poisonous to breath.

Here is what Grampa Dave has beening warning about and predicting inspite of the miss leading news:

The Florence wildfire has grown so large that officials Friday drew an imaginary north-south line down the middle of the 80-mile-long blaze and split firefighting duties into two camps about 40 miles apart.

More than 1,200 firefighters and support staff are en route to Gold Beach to operate out of a new command post that will focus on fighting the fire's movement to the north and west.

The people from Brookings to Gold Beach and into the Agness Area need to be alert to the new reality of the fire moving West, Southwest and North.

Stay alert and safe Granof8!

If a typical Banana Belt Day happens before this fire gets under control that down the mountain to the ocean hot air flows/winds could be a disaster.