Florence fire jumps lines, makes tracks for Brookings (SW Oregon)

Medford Mail Tribuen ^ | 10 August 2002 | Paul Fattig

[Grampa Dave]

August 10, 2002

Florence fire jumps lines, makes tracks for Brookings

By PAUL FATTIG

Medford Florence fire jumps lines, makes tracks for Brookings

Mail Tribune The dog days of August continue to hound firefighters battling the southern flank of the 331,375-acre Florence fire.

As temperatures rise, residents in the hamlet of Wilderness Retreat along the Chetco River more than a half-dozen miles east of Brookings have been warned to evacuate on a moment’s notice if the fire flares up along its southwest flank.

However, the fire is about three and a half miles from the scattered homes and as of Friday night remained contained by a fireline, officials said.

Firefighters on the fire’s southeast flank near O’Brien battled a 240-acre "slopover" Friday which erupted after the fire jumped a containment line.

The spot fire demonstrated the dangerous fire potential still facing the region, officials cautioned.

"We thought we got the slopover 100 percent last (Thursday) night, but it picked up again today," said Forest Service spokesman Tom Valluzzi, noting it had been fanned to life by broiling temperatures and gusting wind.

"Next week is supposed to be hot," he said, referring to weather predictions that include triple-digit temperatures in the interior valleys early next week.

"This fire ain’t over, not by a long shot," he added. "It’s going to be a long time before it’s out."

Still, the fire is now considered 20 percent contained by firelines, he added. And the evacuation notice for Illinois Valley residents has been extended to 12 hours. Favorable weather conditions have decreased the threat in the northern flank of the fire near Agness.

The fire flared up near the Quail Prairie Lookout on the west side of the Siskiyou National Forest early Friday afternoon, forcing officials to pull back firefighters in that area, said agency spokesman Bob MacGregor.

"The inversion lifted up a little — it made a little bit of a run," he said. "But it didn’t burn to our firelines. We’re pretty confident we’re going to be able to hold it."

That’s because an inversion is expected in the area this weekend, in effect putting a "blanket" on the flames, he said.

Nearly 5,500 firefighters are now battling the blaze, which covers about 463 square miles in Oregon and the far northwest tip of California.

The fire has surpassed the 1933 240,000-acre Tillamook burn but is still a far cry from the 988,000-acre Silverton fire of 1865, the largest fire in western Oregon, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry.

The fire was sparked by lightning in the Florence Creek drainage west of Selma on July 13.

Meanwhile, the fire has given crews the opportunity to deploy the PHF 20T, a converted 1960s German military tank. The vehicle is being used to snuff out hot spots that could spring up around the perimeter near O’Brien.

Built in Germany and distributed in the United States by the Texas-based Texoga company, the tank has been extensively converted for fire protection purposes. It is equipped with a 5,000-gallon water storage tank and a nozzle capable of launching 200 to 500 gallons of water every minute from a turret at its front.

A large adjustable dozer-blade also extends off the front, allowing drivers to dig or reinforce fire lines.

"We tested it for a week in Nevada and it goes great," said Jes Webb, a fire information officer. "I tried to find some place it couldn’t go and something it couldn’t go over — I couldn’t find it."

As the firefighters continue to increase containment lines around the fire, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office will begin reuniting evacuated pets and livestock with their owners today.

The estimated 400 animals, evacuated when the fire threatened the Illinois Valley, include everything from horses to dogs and cats and at least one guinea pig, according to an office spokesman.

[Grampa Dave]

I don't know what the current status of the fire is.

It is the weekend, so the Oregonian and Oregon Live have their weekend feel good news up with local murders and rapes. This is not news to the Green Jihadists controlling Portland.

[Grampa Dave]

Good Morning!

Hope all of you are safe and reasonably smoke free today.

This is it for now.

Please post what you are aware of.

[Grampa Dave]

Good morning!

This is the latest on the Druid/Green Jihadist Rural Cleansing fire in SW Oregon.

No one has written a story on how the Kalmiopsis Wilderness no longer exists. It was struck by lightening in July. As per the Druid/Green Jihadist mentally ill agenda, lightening is considered to be a good fire. So the Floristry Circus in that area, held hands and chanted "Fire is Great! Fire is Good!"

When it threatened to burn out 17,000 innocent victims living in the Illinois River Valley area, they decided that it should be fought outside of the former wilderness area.

The fire in the former wilderness area will have to be put out by nature as it is against the law for evil men to put it out. So it will burn until this fall when the fall/winter rains come.

The weather will be heating up this weekend and really getting hot next week. Now those living in Curry County to the west of the burning former Wilderness are in danger and will be in danger most until the former Wilderness burns out.

This is a perfect text book example of the Druid Green Jihadist Fire Agenda in action.

Thanks for your help in pinging and keeping this sad story alive on Free Republic.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanksf for your interest and pings on this Druid Green Jihadist Rural cleansing by fire story!

This is the latest on the Druid/Green Jihadist Rural Cleansing fire in SW Oregon.

No one has written a story on how the Kalmiopsis Wilderness no longer exists. It was struck by lightening in July. As per the Druid/Green Jihadist mentally ill agenda, lightening is considered to be a good fire. So the Floristry Circus in that area, held hands and chanted "Fire is Great! Fire is Good!"

When it threatened to burn out 17,000 innocent victims living in the Illinois River Valley area, they decided that it should be fought outside of the former wilderness area.

The fire in the former wilderness area will have to be put out by nature as it is against the law for evil men to put it out. So it will burn until this fall when the fall/winter rains come.

The weather will be heating up this weekend and really getting hot next week. Now those living in Curry County to the west of the burning former Wilderness are in danger and will be in danger most until the former Wilderness burns out.

This is a perfect text book example of the Druid Green Jihadist Fire Agenda in action.

Thanks for your help in pinging and keeping this sad story alive on Free Republic

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks to meeknming, we have a candid photo of the evil mastermind of this Rural Cleansing Strategy:

ACTUAL PHOTO OF ENVIRO-NAZI-JIHADIST POS

[connectthedots]

Meanwhile, the fire has given crews the opportunity to deploy the PHF 20T, a converted 1960s German military tank. The vehicle is being used to snuff out hot spots that could spring up around the perimeter near O’Brien.

Built in Germany and distributed in the United States by the Texas-based Texoga company, the tank has been extensively converted for fire protection purposes. It is equipped with a 5,000-gallon water storage tank and a nozzle capable of launching 200 to 500 gallons of water every minute from a turret at its front.

The ultimate in 'Super Soakers'. Be the first on your block to get one.

[Grampa Dave]

The tank sounds like fun. I would like to use one to get to and from the fly fishing streams in S. Oregon and N. Kali that are overgrown with brush and have no roads due to the Green Jihadist's forest agendas.

Then when an ALF/ELF/PETA Freak shows up to protest me making new roads, clearing brush and fly fishing, I could use the 500 gallon per minute nozzle to clean them up for the first time in their lives.

The Green Jihadists will be against it as it is too effective.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

Grampa LOL - that picture looks like what I grilled last night! ITs hard to get those damn feathers off though!

The smoke is back in the basin in a major way. Had a clear day yesterday.

BTW Surf & Turf at Bunkers house is Spotted Owl & Sucker Fish!

[Grampa Dave]

August 10, 2002


United nations: Canadians join fight
By MELISSA MARTIN, Medford Mail Tribune

Gerry Trudeau calls himself the "fire headhunter from the Yukon," the first to confront the flames and the first to take the blame if something goes wrong.

"I’m responsible for the fire and the safety of everybody," said the firefighter from Pelly Crossing, just over the Canadian border from Alaska. "If the fire escapes the initial attack line and if an accident happens, it comes down to me."

He stepped off a Boeing 737 at the Medford airport Friday night with 102 fellow Canadians carrying gear on his back and knowledge in his head that could save lives and keep the largest fire in the continental U.S. at bay. The five, 20-person crews were bused to a Gold Beach base camp to fight the Florence fire burning 26 miles southwest of Grants Pass.

"I have to keep good track of every decision I make and why I make them," said Trudeau, pulling the tools of his trade from his waist pack — a tape recorder small enough to fit in the palm of his hand and a fire diary where he records his, and the fire’s, every move.

He packs weather-watching equipment and communication antennae on his back and he carries a radio and global positioning system in his vest.

"If we’re out in the open, we can follow the column of smoke, but once we get under the canopy, we rely on a compass and a GPS," Trudeau said. A paramedic and volunteer fire chief, Trudeau gave up a Caribbean vacation with his wife — the town’s librarian, school secretary and ambulance service coordinator — to take a job 2,500 miles away.

The Canadians who arrived Friday night are among 367 from six different fire fighting agencies in Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories arriving this week in the Rogue Valley.

The U.S. government asked the Canadians help fight the 331,375-acre Florence fire that’s threatening western Josephine County. Some 5,434 people from across the country are battling the blaze.

"I’m looking forward to seeing how things work here and learning the different environment of the fire," said Jennifer Platz, a FireRanger from Edmonton, who earned an arts and forestry university degree. She fights fires in the summer and skis in the winter.

Don Sullivan welcomes the work, despite breathing smoke and ash for 12 hours a days in a constant danger zone of falling trees and unpredictable flames. The mill where the man from Hazelton, British Columbia, used to work closed.

"That’s what I love about this job is going away and the farther the better," said the crew leader, who once a led his team in a fast retreat in their trucks when a fire made an unexpected turn.

His crew got its name "Rainmakers" because the heavens seem to open whenever they show up, he said.

"It’s awesome being here," said Rainmaker Tricia Seinen, a carpenter and skier in the off season. "We’re going to make lots of money."

Canadians and Americans first joined forces against North American fires in 1988, when the Canadians asked the Americans for help, said Rick Strickland, Northwest Interagency Media representative from Edmonton. In 2000, the Americans asked the Canadians for help fighting fires in Montana.

When Uncle Sam called this time, Alberta was just mopping up the 545,600-acre House River Fire, Strickland said.

"We have 2 to 3 feet of duff layer so to dig a hand line to the mineral soil is not feasible," said Strickland, explaining the different strategies. "We use a water delivery system with pumps and sprinklers, even pumping water uphill. We have planes that we call "Ducks" that scoop up water from lakes and swamps. We mix it with foam to give the water longevity and create a kind of soapy substance. We drop retardant to steer the fire to a body of water. When the fire gets to a lake, it stops and then we work along the flanks. We’re not always successful, but we do our best."

He hails from fire country, noting an Aug. 4, 1998, storm with 40,000 recorded lightning strikes that started 350 fires over the next 10 days.

"But your values of risk are greater here," Strickland said. "You have more communities and more people than we do."

There are also more people working this fire, said Yukon team leader Don Hutton, from Mayo, population 500. His crew includes firefighters from the Tutchone, Taan, and Trondek nations.

"We just finished a 2,100 hectare (5,187-acre) fire in the Prince Albert National Park," said Hutton, who bought his wife an anniversary gift early knowing he would be in Oregon on the big day. "We helped protect the second-largest white pelican breeding ground in the world at Lavawwee.

"But this fire is bigger than most of us have seen," Hutton said. "It’s big by anybody’s standards."

The U.S. government called in the Canadians when man-power started running low, said Marty O’Toole, fire information officer for the National Interagency Coordination Center at the Boise airport. The Canadian crews spent a day in Boise learning how to identify poison oak and scorpions before flying in to Medford.

Next week, 56 mid-level supervisors from New Zealand and Australia will arrive in Medford.

"It will be four nations working together on the same fire," Strickland said.

---

The Empire minus England has arrived to help!

We should send their bill to Club Sierra, Andy Kerr, the ONRC and of course the great governor of Oregone up in Smoke, Kitzyslobber.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

Was at that airport Thurs night. Half the passengers appeared to be fire support. Probably flew first class.

[Grampa Dave]

I would like to grill him and his POS Green Jihadist Nazis, but not to eat.

Just strap them to trees in the way of the blazes and let them hug the trees and chant "Fire is God! Fire is Good! Fire is Great!" as it crowns out and cinderizes these worthless POS's!

You consider Spotted Owl to be Turf! We consider Bambi, his mother, aunt and all male relatives to be Turf. Spotted Owl is Wings from Heaven on a Grill!

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

I used to be afraid of eating spotted owl. I was told the reason it is spotted is because its diseased. I've gotten over that now.

[dixiechick2000]

"It is equipped with a 5,000-gallon water storage tank and a nozzle capable of launching 200 to 500 gallons of water every minute from a turret at its front."

Really kewl! I've gotta get me one of those things!

Now, I'm off to read the rest of the thread.

[dixiechick2000]

"Gusty winds remained a threat Saturday to fire crews struggling to contain what has become Oregon's largest wildfire in over a century."

This is from KGW 8. It's about the only thing that's not included in your article. I might add that they are expecting winds up to 50 MPH today.

BTW, Good morning, Gramps!

[countrydummy]

thanks for posting it! Have been trying to follow them all....when are folks ever going to wake up and see what is really happening in America?

[backhoe]

You may find this useful:

Environmentalist Slams "lunatic fringe"

[dixiechick2000]

"Environmentalism was hijacked," he said. "The original people in the movement could arguably claim to be the largest grass-roots movement in America, and one of the greatest. People joined together to do good. Then they made a crucial and critical mistake: They gave power - unchecked power - to their leaders.

"We allow the Enviros to write critical legislation. We elected many to the House and Senate who just blindly accepted that what the Enviros were doing was good. Now we're unwilling to examine what the Enviros say and do to see if it is flawed.

"It is one thing for the Enviros to say, 'We are going to do good,' but if what they do creates profoundly negative impacts on the habitat and turns out to be unconstitutional, it is proof that the power handed to their leaders has corrupted them.

"Right now, taxpayers are paying for 'Green Bureau-babble,' which equates to power. The people who come up with these ideas are power perverts. They don't want to stand for election. They want the power without the responsibility. These people are a perversion of the republic."

Thank you, backhoe! What a refreshing article.

[Salvation]

Florence Fire Grows: Biggest in Century

08/10/2002

By AP Staff

Gusty winds remained a threat Saturday to fire crews struggling to contain what has become Oregon's largest wildfire in over a century.

In Curry County, a pre-evacuation notice was posted to make sure residents are ready to leave on a moment's notice if the Florence Fire -- which had grown to 333,891 acres by Saturday morning -- moved closer to a few dozen homes scattered along river canyons near the ocean in the southwest corner of Oregon.

A helicopter fights the Florence Fire near Agness. (AP Photo)

"This does not mean that residents are asked to leave, but that each resident is prepared to leave immediately if notified," Curry County Sheriff Kent Owens said Friday.

A voluntary evacuation advisory remained in effect in Gasquet, Calif., at the fire's southern end, which has a population of about 800 people. The blaze jumped a fire line near there Thursday.

The blaze is now larger than the 1933 Tillamook Fire, which burned 311,000 acres. There are indications some 19th century fires may have covered more ground, however. National forest management did not begin until after the Forest Service was established in the 1890s.

Gusty winds and low humidity, which became a concern on Friday, remained an issue Saturday, said Carol Tocco of the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, which oversees fire management. The blaze is about 25 percent contained, she said.

More than 6,000 firefighters are at the blaze, which covers more than 460 square miles in southwest Oregon and Northern California. Although favorable weather limited the fire's advance in the Agness area, east winds gusting to 40 mph and temperatures in the 90s gave the blaze new vigor in the steep hills and valleys east of Brookings near the California border.

"Unfortunately, this thing is getting ready to blow up," Owens said Friday. "It's been sort of idling the last few days. But with the wind change, it could go into high gear."

Some area residents have already moved their families out, but others said they would stay with their homes as falling ash sprinkled on cars.

Bob Wilhite said he's been building his house for two years and is still doing some finishing work. "I'm not gonna pick up and leave now," he said. "These guys seem pretty good at what they do."

Normally the Chetco River Inn would be packed with guests this time of year, but the bed-and-breakfast in the rugged hills 15 miles east of Brookings is empty.

Co-owner Sandra Brugger said she hasn't had a paying guest in two weeks, ever since the Florence fire prompted officials to close the road leading to the inn and the community of Wilderness Retreat two weeks ago.

Crews strung fire hose from the Chetco River up to, over and around Wilderness Retreat homes. A series of portable pumps sends river water through the hoses to the sprinklers that douse the houses and nearby land. For houses too far from the river, they'll feed the sprinklers with tanker truck water.

About 50 houses in all have been rigged with sprinklers and are being wetted down a couple of hours a day.

On fire lines in the Illinois River Valley to the east, fire crews tried out the PHF 20T, a converted 1960s German military tank, to help put out hot spots that could spring up around the perimeter of the Florence Fire.

Built in Germany and distributed in the United States by the Texas-based Texoga company, the tank has been extensively converted for fire protection purposes. It is equipped with a 5,000-gallon water storage tank and a nozzle capable of launching 200 to 500 gallons of water every minute from a turret at its front.

A large adjustable dozer-blade also extends off the front, allowing drivers to dig or reinforce fire lines.

"We tested it for a week in Nevada and it goes great. I tried to find some place it couldn't go and something it couldn't go over -- I couldn't find it," said Jes Webb, a fire information officer.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks, this is one of my bookmarks!

I feel that we have about .000000001% of 1% of Americans awake and alert re the enviral nazis and their agendas of harm and death to to America.

They have gotten to their power with no controlling legal authority over them the past two decades. That accelerated and became even more deadly during the Clintoonian years. This is another legacy from the Criminal from Arkrazy.

[Salvation]

Sorry, #18 was from kgw.com

[dixiechick2000]

Thanks...

and a bump!

[backhoe]

Thanks for looking- I think we have a chance to "get everybody's attention" ( like the old mule story ) and take a close look at where extremists in the eco-movement are trying to take all of us.

[Granof8]

Some good news this morning - Sheriff Owens has received contact from New York regarding the Florence fire. A group from Agness went to there help post September 11. Now maybe we'll get some national coverage. No details yet.

Brookings fire chief Bill Sharp reported minimal fire activity yesterday, mainly in the Quail prairie and Boulder creek areas. Sharp said there are a lot of roads outside the wilderness area and they have been tied together to make firebreaks and firelines.

The Florence fire has been renamed, is now the Biscuit fire. The City of Florence apparently objected to the name.

Still only pre-evac notices. KURY radio reported this morning some Gasquet residents had declined to leave their homes. I'm hearing it will be much the same at Agness.

[Granof8]

KURY radio reports the Biscuit fire at 334,000 acres this morning.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for all of this news.

This was very interesting: The Florence fire has been renamed, is now the Biscuit fire. The City of Florence apparently objected to the name.

The Druid eco fascists named it the Florence Fire so people would not realize that the fire was really the former Kalmiopsis Wilderness.

Calling it the Florence Fire had to hurt the tourist business in the critical month of August for the businesses in Florence.

Good for the people in Florence in getting the Floristry Circus PR Clowns to stop calling it the Florence Fire.

[WaterDragon]

Still no acknowledgement in the news that continual lawsuits by the environmentalists have blocked ANY fire-prevention, and so have created the necessary conditions for these hot, unmanageable fires.

No acknowledgement that the environmentalists lawsuits and Democrat federal forestry policies are directly responsible for the thousands of acres of scorched, dead earth and black stumps of trees, not to mention the deaths of firefighters and threat to people's homes and property.

People watching the news elsewhere in the country are under the impression that lightning-caused fires are 'natural' and 'good for the forests'. They have no idea, because evidently the mainstream media is censoring this information, that the environmentalists and Democrats have stupidly set us up for NO forests, NO spotted owls, leaving us with erosion-vulnerable acres and black stumps.

Because the environmentalists and the Democrats don't care about forests, trees or the wildlife. All they care about is taking control of OUR public and private property. All they care about is controlling OUR lives and choices. To hell with the trees. Too bad if we don't like it.

[WaterDragon]

Thanks for the links, backhoe.

[backhoe]

Thanks for looking, and your reply #26 was so good I made a direct link to it in my next mass email. It will get seen.

[Grampa Dave]

You might want to go to this link and then save in on your computer or server. It will probably disappear like the original site for the Florence Fire is now gone. You can't even access it for past reports, and there have been no updates since about 8/7.

This Link tells how these Druid Green Jihadists view lightening as a good fire and a good thing.

This entire fire has been set up and made ready over the decades of the Druid Green Jihadists Good Fire Agendas coupled with no roads, no timber removal and no brush removal.

These agendas made the former Kalmiopsis Wilderness an explodable/inflamable tinder box waiting for the right good fire. Well it happened and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness is burnt up.

Here is the link that every conservative in Oregon needs to go to and then copy the data on their computer before BiG Floristry Circus Clowns remove this site. (Link to the Official burn it all down Green Jihadists Strategy for the Former Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area)

[Grampa Dave]

Ooops, I forgot to ping you on my reply #29. This link tells us all about how this fire is a direct result of the Green Jihadists's strategy for the former Kalmiopsis Wilderness area: (Link to the Official burn it all down Green Jihadists Strategy for the Former Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area)

You might want to save this on your computer or another server in its entirety. I believe that it too will disappear as other paper/electronic trails are disappearing with these fires.

Thanks for all the great work you do for us!

Official Green Jihadist, BURN IT ALL DOWN, LOGO:

[dixiechick2000]

"Calling it the Florence Fire had to hurt the tourist business in the critical month of August for the businesses in Florence."

It did hurt tourist business. I saw a piece on the local news about this. The business owners were furious.

[Grampa Dave]

Keep posting what is happening as I will probably be off the boards until tomorrow sometime.

Our grandkids and DIL are returning from a two week vacation on the Jersey Shore. We are picking them up at the airport. So I have to get the Bronco deloused, cleaned out of fly fishing gear and ready for car seats for babies and two women.

These are the only 3 people in the world that I will go to SFO to meet, my grandkids and my DIL!

Granof8, see if you can find out the Floristry Circus Clown site that has the current data on the fire, whatever its name is today.

I think that we are seeing a whole of Hillerizing of web sites and smoking forest data and will see a whole lot more.

If anyone finds some great data that has not been electronically deleted, please save it to your own computer. Save the whole file/files as the url is worthless if they cancel it or remove the file from the url.

Take care and I will catch up whenever.

[dixiechick2000]

Bump for a great post!

[dixiechick2000]

Thanks for the update!

[Grampa Dave]

Post that news if you can find the link re the Florence loss of business due to the Florist Circus Clowns calling it the Florence Fire to misled us from knowing that it was really what used to be the Kalmiopsis fire.

Out of here!:)

[dixiechick2000]

I'll try and find it, but it is days old.

Have a good weekend!

[MeekOneGOP]

ROFL ! Thanks, Grampa !

Coffee, Grampa, CTD...anyone?........

Have a cup while you FReep !

[backhoe]

I saved that page to my hard drive & will copy it to a floppy for safekeeping. We really are dealing with fanatics.

[Granof8]

http://www.nwtec.com/home/map020810.html

Updated at 2 a.m. this morning. You can click on "previous" below the view to get a comparison with yesterday's fire.

[dixiechick2000]

That's cool! Thanks, gran!

[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt

[Grampa Dave]

Finally went a back door to get this fire map from 8 August. Remember the two fires merged yesterday. For a comparison go to the map that Granof8 just posted and super impose it in your mind to this map. Then remember the green on this map was what was left of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area. Is there any to save the bit mat of this before it disappears:

The Green is what was left of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness when this map was done. Probably the evening of 8/7/2002.

[Granof8]

SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE:
NAME CHANGING TO BISCUIT FIRE

Published: August 10, 2002

Dear Readers:

First, look for a name change on Sunday for this fire: The folks in the City of Florence have convinced fire officials to drop Florence Fire and use Biscuit Fire -- the name of the one of the first fires from the July 13 lightning strikes. Florence came from the name of a creek; Biscuit comes from Biscuit Butte.


Whatever the name, it has become the largest wildfire in Oregon history, now covering 333,891 acres, and surpassing the historic Tillamook Burn.


The current fire boundaries in our area today are reported as:

• two air miles southeast of Oak Flat in the Rogue River drainage,

• four air miles east of the Wilderness Retreat area in the Chetco River drainage,

• two miles north of Gasquet, Calif.


The fire burned around the base of the lookout on Quail Prairie Mountain on Friday, but did not damage the lookout, according to reports.


The weather inversion, while keeping smoke close to the ground in Brookings Friday, helped keep the fire line inactive. A Red Flag Warning continues for weather conditions today. The fire crews from the Chetco River Camp are focusing their activity on protection lines around the structures at Wilderness Retreat, about 15 miles upriver from Brookings and 10 air miles northeast of Brookings.


The fire continues to be active near Agness, Collier Butte and Quail Prairie Mountain. The pre-evacuation alerts remain in effect for the Agness area, Wilderness Retreat and the far upper end of Gardner Ridge Road.


In the Illinois Valley, the evacuation notices continue to be eased. Residents will now have 12 hours to safely leave if an alert is issued.


While there is not immediate threat at this time, Curry County Sheriff Kent Owens and City of Brookings officials have been working to prepare an evacuation plan if it becomes necessary. Officials on the west side of the fire have agreed to ignore boundaries in answering emergency calls while the fire is still a threat.


This morning's report lists the entire fire at 25 percent contained, with 6,132 personnel assigned and a total cost of more than $34.8 million to day.


It's interesting to see how the fire has grown since the lightning strikes of July 13 that started the fires. The Curry Coastal Pilot has placed links to satellite images of the fire at www.currypilot.com. Our friends at Northwest Technical have create a similar set at www.nwtec.com


The Pilot will contiue to monitor the news and send News Alerts as necessary through the weekend. For a special "Thank You Firefighters" poster that you can place in your window, pick up a copy of Saturday's edition (Aug. 10) of the Curry Coastal Pilot.


Thanks for using The Pilot for your news and information,

Charles Kocher

Publisher

[Granof8]

FLORENCE FIRE MOVES LITTLE BUT STILL A THREAT

Published: August 10, 2002

By Brian Bullock

Pilot Staff Writer

Despite treacherous weather conditions and heavy smoke smothering all of Curry County Friday, the western flank of the Florence Fire gained little ground, fire officials said.

But that didn't stop them from issuing pre-evacuation notices to residents of three Chetco River area communities.

Curry County Sheriff Kent Owens informed residents of Wilderness Retreat, Cate Road and Upper Gardner Ridge Friday that they should be ready to evacuate if necessary.

The three Chetco River areas join the Rogue and Illinois River communities of Oak Flat, Agness and Illahe on the list of Curry County areas to be issued notices.

The Florence and Sour Biscuit fires joined Thursday to form one 308,000-acre blaze.

Fire officials officially adopted the Florence Fire name for the entire incident.

It is now managed by four teams, two of which are focusing on the western edge – the West Florence Fire – from Gold Beach and Brookings.

Residents of the Del Norte County community of Gasquet voluntarily evacuated Thursday night.

The fire jumped containment lines and burned within three miles of the community before slowing early Friday morning, officials said.

The Chetco River area notification was based on weather and fire activity forecasts over the next three days, according to a Curry County Sheriff's press release.

Despite the warmer temperatures and higher winds since Thursday, the fire has not advanced a great deal, said Cynthia Sage, fire information officer in Gold Beach.

"Yesterday, the fire line didn't move a lot. We have a lot of smoke because of the inversion, but not a lot of movement," Sage said.

The inversion, which has kept a thick, choking smoke blanketing the Brookings-Harbor area, has actually benefited firefighting efforts, according to Kim Martin, incident commander in charge of the Zone 3 efforts near Wilderness Retreat.

"Right now as long as we have the inversion, it's keeping the lid on the fire," Martin said Friday. "It's kind of like a stove with the damper on."

As of Friday, the fire was still five air miles east of Wilderness Retreat and three miles southeast of Oak Flat near Agness. Martin said the the southwest edge of the fire, what was once part of the Sour Biscuit Fire, has been slowed by the Smith River.

"The fire has basically bumped up against the North Fork of the Smith and it's keeping it in check," he explained.

Along the entire western edge of the fire, Red Flag weather conditions are expected through Saturday. High temperatures and low humidity create dangerous conditions for suppression efforts.

"What we need is something between what we've got and real high humidity," explained Jean Bergerson, fire information supervisor in Gold Beach. "We're getting ready to start burnout operations. We don't want high winds where we can't do the burnouts, but we don't want high humidity where the burnouts won't do what we need."

As of Friday, 5,434 firefighting personnel are working on the blaze, including 26 Type I crews, 123 Type II crews, 41 helicopters, 174 engines, 81 bulldozers and 66 water tenders.

National Guard personnel have been brought in for security purposes.

The fire containment effort has been divided into four administrative zones. Martin, of the Great Basin national Incident Management Team, is in charge of Zone 3 and based near Upper Chetco School.

Doug Bright is the Zone 4 incident commander of the Oregon and California Management Team and is headquartered in Gold Beach.

The fire there continues to be active in the Oak Flat and Agness area and crews have conducted burnout operations. Hand crews have been successful in constructing fire lines in rugged areas east of Oak Flat inaccessible to bulldozers.

Wally Bennett's Northern Rockies Management Team is in charge of Zone 2 stationed in Crescent City.

The southwest portion of the fire burned approximately 2,200 acres north of the North Fork of the Smith River triggering the voluntary evacuation of Gasquet. It stopped spreading early Friday morning.

Mike Lohrey is commander of the Pacific Northwest Management Team and is in charge of Zone 1 from Lake Selmac.

The concentration in Zone 1 is on protecting the community of O'Brien in the Whiskey Creek Drainage.

The fire crossed containment lines Thursday and torched 240 acres outside the primary containment line. The fire was suppressed outside the primary line. It did not cross the secondary containment line.

The smoke that has covered the Brookings-Harbor area for days had spread north near Gold Beach by Friday.

Bergerson said the forecast was for a change in the weather and winds beginning Sunday. She said winds are forecast to change from easterly to northeasterly, which would benefit the Agness area.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks!

I can't believe how slow the Pilot has been in getting out the most important news since the Japanese pilot attacked Brookings in WWII.

There was nothing this morning on their site. The news from from Thursday, which meant that it was Monday thru Wednesday old news.

The sporadic and on and off coverage of this fire by the Pilot and other fish wraps around the fire are showing that the newspapers no longer have the ability to cover real news events. They are more like semi current pc history synopsis instead of news.

When you throw in the PC spin and diversity push that most newspapers spend most of their resources on, the newspaper becomes less relevant everyday with their semi history synopsis posing as news.

You have provided us a lot more updates than the 4.5 newspapers who supposedly are covering this story. We thank you.

[AuntB]

The news dies around here on the weekend, so I haven't heard zip. Thanks for keeping this upfront, Gramps. We love ya.

[AuntB]

Andy Kerr!!! This photo has him so cleaned up and slick looking I hardly recognized him! :<)

[AuntB]

Hello sweetness. Hey, at the rate we're going, we won't have to cook the stupid owl, they come straight out of the forest roasted these days!

[AuntB]

Thanks for all your updates a great info, Granof8. It's appreciated.

[Grampa Dave]

I know that the news up there dies from Thursday night until Monday or Tuesday.

However, these fires are one of the most significant things that has happened to SW Oregon since the pioneers came to settle.

So it is amazing that the coverage of them since July has been so terrible.

Of course we saw this with the Klamath Basin Crisis last year. If it had not been for Freepers, we would not have known what was happening.

So as usual the Freepers cover the news.

This why we should all cancel our subscriptions to any fish wrap and send the monthly savings to Free Republic. To insure that we get the news.

Granof8 has been better than any on the site reporter. She should get the burnt cinder reward for "Hot and up to date News!"