Posted on 08/05/2002 7:37:46 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Fire Fight Hampered by Cooler Weather 08/05/2002
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
Firefighters trying to get a line around the massive Florence Fire hoped for rain Monday, but said they were nevertheless making good progress on corralling the blaze with a 200-mile containment line starting at the California border.
The 240,000-acre fire, located in the Siskiyou National Forest in southwestern Oregon, increased Sunday by more than 40,000 acres from burnouts alone, said Tom Valluzzi, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman. Burnouts are fires that are intentionally set behind dirt containment lines by crews hoping to rob the main blaze of its fuel.
Firefighters said they would conduct burns down the ridge to the river that runs behind the Woods' house and then burn another ridge on the other side of the property.
The family has been cutting trees and clearing brush around the ranch for five days and had a sprinkler on the roof, said Susie Wood.
"They said they felt that with the efforts we've been doing, they think we can save our place," she said. "I hope so -- you've got to have a positive attitude."
The ridge fire licked at the base of trunks, sometimes creeping up the sides in short spurts and other times torching the entire tree in seconds. The fire created its own wind that erupted in loud whooshes, like a jet taking off, every time a tree ignited.
Flames jumped around, sometimes crisping one side of a tree and leaving the other untouched, but they did not cross a foot-wide dirt line dug that morning to control the flames.
On the opposite ridge, crews used a new blasting technology to carve out a one- to two-mile containment line for the next day's burnout. Tubes of sausage-shaped explosives were laid down and then detonated from a distance, creating a huge explosion that sent clouds of gray smoke above the tree line.
"It was multiple explosions and it was pretty loud," said Bill Evans, 84, who lives two miles from the blast site. "I thought I'd go out there on my bicycle, but they said no way."
A total of 40 miles have been scorched with drip torches and flare pistols by hand crews working along the fire's eastern flank, where it threatens about 17,000 Illinois Valley residents.
There are about eight more miles to burn before the containment line reaches the California border, where another fire team takes over responsibility, said Tom Knappenberger, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman.
The Florence Fire was still about one to two miles Sunday from the 41,000-acre Biscuit Fire and fire officials expect the two blazes to merge in the next few days.
"We expect them to and it's OK if they do," said Mike Ferris, Forest Service spokesman. "We've been treating them like one fire already."
The threat to the Illinois Valley has dropped because of progress with burnouts and the cooler weather, said Ferris. A 30-minute evacuation order for 17,000 people was downgraded to a two-hour warning Saturday night, he said. That could be lowered to a 24- or 48-hour notice in the next few days.
"We're feeling pretty good about the reduced threat in these communities. It's starting to look like they have a minimal risk to them," Ferris said.
Meanwhile, another management team handling the fire's western flank from a command post in Gold Beach continued to prepare a containment line around the northern and western sides.
The fire crossed Indigo Creek to the north and was about three miles from Agness, a tiny whitewater outpost, by Sunday. Crews planned to link line from the west and east sides in the next few weeks.
The Bear Camp Highway, which runs from near Grants Pass to Agness, was closed indefinitely at midnight Sunday so it can be used as a secondary containment line around the fire's northern edge, Ferris said.
About $10.1 million has been spent on the Florence fire alone, said Knappenberger, the spokesman. The fire was about 5 percent contained Sunday night.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Online at: http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_0805_news_wildfires_oregon.5d4ed115.html
Great find...Let me know who takes the fall for it (if anyone).
EBUCK
Oregon Fire Fight Hampered by Cooler Weather
KGW TV ^ | 5 August 2002 | GILLIAN FLACCUS
I think Flaccus doesn't like cool weather! Cool weather is an AID to firefighters.
"And we have 1800 administrative and other non-essential personel that all decisions must to go thru so we really can't get anything done in a timely fashion. As a matter of fact, the buracracy is so large that I'm personally amazed that we can afford to have firefighters on the ground!" (edited out of the original article by USFS political officer) /sarcasm
EBUCK
Standard eco-nut environmental impact statement....
It's bad because my gut (and my corporate controllers) tells me so (tear rolling down cheek for effect). And all the cute and cuddly creatures are dying and stuff! Plus it's our job as curators of the cathedral that we stop evil humans from doing any more harm! It's for the animals dontcha know!
EBUCK
The difficulty of accessing the front lines of the blaze there and a lack of escape routes made sending fire crews to that area too dangerous, according to a news release by the U.S. Forest Service.
For the spin/de-spin impaired "lack of escape routes" means no roads or roads that are in such disrepair that escape would be iffy if dependant upon said roads. Thank you envirals!!!
Click on Picure
EBUCK
Go to Lars Larson site to hear about the Enviral Whackos and their agendas interferring with the fire fighting in SW Oregon. He has promised even more exposure of the tactics and agendas of the most dangerous people in the World to America/Americans.
(Lars Larson Computer Radio Link to listen to Lars Live 12pm to 4 pm PDST)
Your comments about the Eugene Fishwearp being a waste of paper reminds me of my daughter, who in second grade was given assignment to make a poster about saving trees. So she didn't make one. Took her teacher a minute to catch on, but she got a good grade.
Can you imagine the trees saved if Pravda Register of Eugene and the Oregonian went out of business to save trees?
Also, the electrical energy saved from not printing the fishwrap would be a large amount KWH's.
Then the carbon fuel used to drop the trees, trim them, gather them and load them to be sent to pulp mill, then to send the newsprint to the fishwrappers to be made into instant fishwrap with old news, then to get the fishwraps to newstands or homes, and then to take them to the expensive recycling centers.
So Pradva Register and the Orgonian should help the environment and close their doors.
What’s New: Construction of the Florence Fire’s southeast flank contingency fire line continued toward the California border last night. Approximately 0.5 mile remains to be built today. No burnouts occurred last night due to emphasis on fire line construction.
Cool temperatures and high humidity today may create unfavorable conditions for burnout operations. Primary and contingency fire line construction will continue, along with mop up and patrolling in areas already blackened by the fire or burnouts.
On Sunday, burnouts along the Florence Fire’s southeast perimeter were successful. Those burnouts took place south of Cave Junction, and west of U.S. Highway 199 and the community of O’Brien.
A meeting with the community of Galice is scheduled for today, at 5:00 p.m., at the Galice Community Center. Members of the Florence Fire Incident Management Team will talk about fire suppression strategies and answer questions.
The Bear Camp Road from Galice to Agness is closed to all users except fire-related traffic and local residents. The roadside will be cleared of brush and prepared for use as a contingency fire line, a measure to check any northward progression of the Florence Fire should it cross the primary control lines. Other roads to Galice and Agness remain open. The hiking trail through the Rogue River Wild and Scenic Area is closed due to extreme fire danger in the area. The Rogue River waterway is open.
Members of the Illinois Valley community have generously offered donations of food and clothing for the firefighters. While appreciated, the firefighters’ needs are met through full-service field kitchens, a laundry facility, a commissary, and other support and supply services. The Florence Fire Incident Management Team recommends that donations of food and clothing be made to the American Red Cross, and that monetary donations be made to the Illinois Valley Fire District. Signs, letters, waves and smiles are always welcome and are greatly appreciated.
Another wave of smoke rolling into the basin - on top of an already thick layer.
The threat to the Illinois Valley has dropped because of progress with burnouts and the cooler weather.
All,
I started the printer on the job on my lunch hour today. Shouldn't be long before ya'all'll be getting them stickers!
EBUCK
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