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Fire risk high By Sean Wolfe Ashland Daily Tidings High temperatures, gusty winds, and tinder-dry grasses have forced the Oregon Department of Forestry to escalate the fire danger from "moderate" to "high." The move comes after wildfires erupted in the region over the weekend. Two were caused by downed powerlines, and others caused by humans, including an illegal burn that sparked a several-acre blaze in Medford on Sunday (Oregon wildfires, story Page 3). New restrictions that apply to both Jackson and Josephine counties, announced Monday, include bans on debris burning, smoking in areas of flammable vegetation, or other industrial operations in areas that might spark a blaze. In addition, chainsaw use, non-agricultural mowing, and non-industrial use of power machinery are prohibited between the hours of 1 and 8 p.m. According to ODF Fire Prevention Specialist Dennis Turco, fuel moisture has been falling rapidly in recent months, raising the department's concern. "Right on the heels of our wet spring, the rainfall in May was below normal, and we had no rainfall in June," Turco said. "Because of the winds, the fine grasses are curing out, so what we're seeing is some higher intensity fires. Grass fires are spreading quickly by getting into the larger material, and we're also seeing full consumption of the larger stuff. It's an indicator that we're looking at the potential of high intensity wildfires, like we saw in Cave Junction." The Daisy Hill Road Fire in Cave Junction Turco occurred over the weekend, and served as a warning, Turco said. That fire was accelerated by 40 mph winds, and managed to torch a home, a garage and two outbuildings before fire crews - supplemented by three air tankers and a pair of helicopters - brought it to heel at the edge of a nearby mobile home park. No one was injured, and the cause is still under investigation. According to Turco, a quarter of all the human-caused fires in the state manage to happen in Jackson and Josephine counties. In ODF's jurisdiction, a full 70 percent of the fires it manages are human-caused, he said. "What that says is that the public plays a role in the severity of the fire season. For the most part it's accidental, with people going about their day-to-day activities. That's why we put the restrictions in effect," Turco said. But the restrictions are not without their impact on local businesses. Sarah Naumes, vice-president of Medford-based Naumes Equipment and Fuel Co., said her business changes at this time of year, with fewer people buying mowers and other power equipment, and more people buying ATVs. Eugene Cloud, the principal of Eagle Point-based Eugene R. Cloud Logging Inc., operates logging and earth-moving equipment in a number of sensitive forest/urban interface zones throughout both counties. He said every year, when the restrictions on his operating hours are laid down, he tries to make sure he has enough construction work in town so he can stay out of the forests. In spite of that, he feels the restrictions should be lessened on equipment operators, who he thinks are less to blame than the public at large. "It does hurt me, because I make most of my money between 2 and 7 o'clock � When you're in the city though, they don't shut you down, so I keep trying to go into the towns more," Cloud said. "The thing is, it's not the tractors that cause the fires, it's carelessness, mainly by the public. In the old days, they wanted loggers in the woods, because if they were in the woods, they knew they had access to the tractors, and people to help put out fires. When they start kicking them out, what does that do to the economy? It's horrible, when they start putting people out of work at that time of day," Cloud said. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -