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--> --> On the hill - Doing dishes as a wildfire rages nearby By Larry Berteau Ashland Daily Tidings Martha Britton resolutely cleaned up the dinner dishes, keeping one eye through the window at the Grizzly blaze that belched smoke only one hill away from her house. "I'm not going to evacuate with dirty dishes," Britton said, leaning over the kitchen sink in her Ashland home at 160 Pompadour Dr. "I don't think it's imminent. But we're getting ready all the same." The East Antelope Fire had topped the ridge on Grizzly Peak Wednesday evening, and Pompadour Drive residents were directly in the line of fire. While Martha did the dirty work, her son, Rick Britton, packed personal belongings into his SUV parked strategically at the front door. "I'm getting this stuff out of the way quickly so I can concentrate on my folks' things," Rick said, placing his Vietnam War uniforms into the last remaining open spot in the vehicle. "I've got thousands of dollars of musical instruments in here (the SUV), and I couldn't bear to lose these," he said, indicating his Army fatigues with campaign ribbons that served testimony to two tours in Vietnam. Martha has lived in the house for 19 years, and is a fire veteran, having evacuated her home in 1994. "We only had to go down East Nevada that time," she said. "But if we have to, there are nice hotels in Ashland." While the Brittons went about their cautionary chores, there was ample evidence of the impending danger in the neighboring, upper reaches of Ashland. Jackson County Fire District No. 5 fire spotters dotted the Pompadour, Pilot View landscape, surveying the nearby flames through binoculars, keeping an eye out as a protective measure for residents. A family led their horses behind a pickup truck, moving them to lower ground. Other horse trailers pulled by trucks roared down from the endangered area. Herds of deer, having escaped the fire up the mountain, languished in residential yards, munching away. A parade of onlookers throughout Ashland served as a backdrop to the Brittons and their neighbors. Cars came to complete stops on residential streets to gawk at the threatening blaze. Crowds gathered at Ashland Middle School - as sports fields offered a perfect vantage point. Trucks and cars jammed the roadside on Interstate 5, peering over the paving activity at the mushrooming conflagration that held Ashland in its grasp. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing