Florence, Sour Biscuit Fires Merge in SW Oregon

Shifting winds helped merge the Florence and Sour Biscuit Fires, creating a megafire that appeared to be heading back towards the southern Oregon hamlet of Agness.

The Florence and Sour Biscuit fires have burned more than 285,000 acres on the Siskiyou National Forest in southwestern Oregon and California since lightning struck July 13. Florence was 10 percent contained and Sour Biscuit 30 percent, authorities said.

The threat to the 17,000 residents of the Illinois Valley diminished as crews burned out the last of a 40-mile containment line protecting O'Brien, Cave Junction, Kerby and Selma and mop-up operations continued.

The fire roared around the Krauss cabin two weekends ago. Of the nine cabins in the path of the fire, four burned, along with eight outbuildings. The Krauss cabin survived.

"I guess its nice that the cabins were saved, but it's hard to be too happy about it when you see the forest itself," said Kathy Krauss, a retired English professor at Rogue Community College.

One neighbor's house looks like the fire came nowhere near it. Two others burned to the ground.

Krauss credited firefighters and her nephew Joey Krauss, who set out pumps and sprinklers to wet down the area, with saving their cabin.

Where Briggs Creek flows into the Illinois, a favorite family spot for fishing and hiking, the fire burned especially hot. Amazingly, the wooden bridge across the creek was charred in places, but not destroyed.

"There are places, pretty little gulches with a lot of Port Orford cedar, that are just as green and pretty as ever, with a little stream running down," said Krauss. "Other places are just totally obliterated. It really is true (the fire) just jumps."

Downstream about 25 miles, at another stretch of the Illinois also known as Oak Flat, the fire was within three miles of a cluster of homes, and within six miles of Agness, home to about 150 people and the end of the wild and scenic section of the Rogue River.

"It's hard for us to wait for the fire to come closer. But we all know it's the only thing we can do," said Willis Crouse, a carpenter, fishing guide and volunteer firefighter.

"Nobody is leaving," despite a warning to be ready to leave on 24 hours notice, Crouse said. "They are all individualists. They mostly built their own houses. People born here are pretty much planted here. They're not going to move an inch."

Elsewhere in Oregon, residents of about 65 homes in the Hemlock neighborhood of Westfir southeast of Eugene were alerted to be ready to evacuate if conditions worsen on a 40-acre fire burning in steep terrain nearby. Residents were there on two hour notice to evacuate. About 150 firefighters hoped to have it contained by Thursday evening.

-- Tiller Complex, 32,005 acres, Umpqua National Forest near Tiller, 25 percent contained.

You both are right! There is no love for the al Qaeda Tree huggers in these areas of Oregon. The real tree lovers live there and are good stewards.

These two counties voted for President Bush in 2000 versus the rat voters in the Green cities like Portland. If these people are forced out of these two counties, that means less voters for the conservative side.

The al Qaeda Tree Huggers don't live there. They pretend to love the trees while their agendas end up burning up the trees.

Their real agenda is to use these uncontrolled fires to rurally cleanse these individualists from their homes.

Any so called conservative who sides with the al Qaeda Tree Huggers is not a conservative. They are as guilty in this Rural Cleansing Crime with Fire as the Greens, as they enable the greens to have the power over us.

http://www.disasternews.net/news/news.php?articleid=1510

About 1,000 people were still displaced Sunday, when the fire was about five percent contained.

We’ve gathered stuff we need to take care of ourselves when we’re away from home.
—Rev. Harold Premdas

Nearly 500,000 acres were burning in fires across Oregon over the weekend.
Some residents left the communities of O'Brien, Cave Junction, Selma, and Kerby, and by the weekend the risk had lessened for some 17,000 others, who had been previously warned they may have to evacuate with only a half hour's notice.
Residents across Oregon’s Illinois Valley were glued to televisions and radios, waiting for evacuation orders, or for the sound of firefighters already knocking on doors and warning people to leave.
“We’ve gathered stuff we need to take care of ourselves when we’re away from home,” said the Rev. Harold Premdas from the Cape Junction, Ore. Seventh-Day Adventist Church. “We’re trying to pack things that can’t be replaced, and also our records, and our computers.”
Seventh-Day Adventist churches in the area, working with Adventist Community Service, have opened their facilities to evacuees who need shelter.
Premdas uttered what everybody fears this week in southwestern Oregon: “If a fire goes through here it will burn everything.”
Oregon’s peak fire season – the month of August – is only beginning.
Faith-based groups were gearing up to help meet needs that might arise in the area. In Jackson County in southwestern Oregon, the Rogue Valley Interfaith Relief Network was on standby to respond. The network, put together in the wake of a flood in 1997, has trained volunteers from 12 area churches.
One service the volunteers provide is an answering service to non-life-threatening calls to 911 during a fire or other disaster, said Paul Robinson of the United Church of Christ disaster ministries network.
“We schedule volunteers in 4-hour shifts,” said Robinson. “They answer questions like ‘Are the roads open? Is the fire heading in my direction? When do I leave?’ ”
Jackson County emergency management provides the volunteers with updated maps showing the location of a fire.
Training is intense, said Robinson, and as a result during actual disasters the volunteers are remarkably calm and effective.
The Rogue Valley Interfaith Relief Network also works with corporate partners to coordinate material donations during disasters, said Robinson. “We know the managers to go see. Within one day we can gather needed materials.”
People with heart problems have been warned to stay inside because of heavy ash fall from the nearby fires.
“The ashes are so bad it looks like it’s snowing,” said Chris Liles, a resident of Smith River, Calif., six miles from the Oregon state line.
Burnt pine needles and smoldering pieces of branches were drifting down along with the ash.
Liles was concerned it would be difficult to move firefighting equipment into some rural locations. “We have so many really remote areas. There are no roads out to them.”
Liles attends the Smith River Baptist church, which had one member who was evacuated over the weekend. Liles and other church members were concerned because nobody could reach her. “She only has a cell phone so nobody could get hold of her,” said Liles.
At the First Baptist Church in Selma, Ore., Catherine Ninow was volunteering to teach vacation bible school. Every day, she said, they ask each other if anyone has heard anything. “Now we’re out here in faith,” she said.
Ninow and others are trying to keep some semblance of their daily lives while being ready to leave quickly.
Area restaurants have been cooking food for firefighters, added Ninow. “At one restaurant, somebody called to ask if the place had burned. The guy there said, ‘We’re not burned but I’m gonna burn the eggs for 150 firefighters if I don’t get off the phone.’ ”
Ninow expressed gratitude to the firefighters for protecting homes. Fifteen firefighters have been killed this year fighting blazes that have burned millions of acres across western states. The latest fatality occurred Tuesday in Colorado, when a helicopter dropping water on hotspots near Rocky Mountain National Park crashed, killing the pilot.
“We all honk and wave when we see the firefighters,” Ninow said. “Their lives are on the line doing this for us.”

Posted August 5, 2002

Here is that map again. They seem to be hiding it and not updating it. The latest map was a few days ago.

Regardless, the reality is that most of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area is on fire or has burned. It will continue to burn until the rains come as there are no roads into the the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area.

Remember the little green areas around the edge of the red was what was not burning as of the evening of 4 August, since this map was posted on 5 August. The fire is bigger and more area has burnt.

So basically the entire Kalmiopis Wilderness Area has burnt up, is still burning and will continue to burn until the fall rains come.

Notice how the Floristry Circus people never mentioned the reality of what has happened to the Kalmiopis Wilderness Area. Of course the Oregone mediots and national mediots are not telling America than an entire massive wilderness area has gone up in flames leaving only burning coals and ashes.

Also, the two fires have now merged into one huge Eco Mother Fire.

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