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.

[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!