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Storms pound valley By AMBER FOSSEN Ashland Daily Tidings Severe thunderstorms crashed through the Rogue Valley, sparking several fires, flooding and sweeping power outages. Storms rolled into the region around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, bringing hail, lightning and drenching rain. As thunder boomed and lightning clapped overhead, Ashland was engulfed in darkness. There were several scattered outages throughout town - due to blown fuses and a charred transformer on Terrace Street that was struck by lightning -when the storm started, but by 8 p.m. all lights were out, according to Dick Wanderscheid, director of the city's Electric Department. "We had another outage around 8 p.m. throughout the entire city of Ashland for about 10 minutes," Wanderscheid said. City crews worked to replace fuses and the blown transformer from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., according to Wanderscheid. Pacific Power representative Deston Nokes said nearly 15,000 residents throughout the Rogue Valley were affected by power outages due to substation blackouts. "It was quite a night," Nokes said. The National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings at 5 p.m. and again at 6 p.m. A flash flood warning was in effect until 8 p.m. More than 500 lightning strikes occurred in Jackson County alone, with nearly 1,000 recorded between Jackson and Douglas counties. The strikes prompted several quarter-acre fires. They were located in Shady Cove; two miles south of Phoenix in the Carmen Road area; two miles northwest of Lake Creek in the Salt Creek area near Highway 140; at Highway 66 near the top of Soda Mountain; and one mile west of Wimer near the intersection of West Evans Creek and Queen Branch Roads. According to Dennis Turco, Oregon Department of Forestry fire prevention specialist, the fires are all contained but more are suspected. "I imagine we probably have quite a few sleepers out there," Turco said today. ODF officials will deploy a reconnaissance aircraft to look for sleeper fires sometime today when the cloud ceiling lifts. While lightning touched off a series of small fires throughout the valley, a structure fire in Talent may also be attributed to Wednesday night's storm, authorities said. Jackson County Fire District No. 5 Chief Darin Welburn said a structure fire in the 1400 block of Foss Road may be lightning-caused, but it is too soon to tell. "We had a large structure fire and it's still under investigation," Welburn said. "We had a number of people come by the site (of the fire) saying they saw lightning. It is a possibility we haven't ruled out yet." Welburn said officials will be investigating the cause and will speak with area residents today. Fire crews responded to the fire at 4:20 p.m., where a shop and adjacent storage shed were engulfed in flames. The smoke was visible throughout Talent, billowing thick black smoke into the evening air. The 2,800-square-foot shop, in addition to the 1,000 square-foot shed, were destroyed along with a semi-truck rig. Three cars located outside were damaged as fuels - nearly 100 semi-truck tires, machinery and equipment - continued to burn. A nearby warehouse was spared from damage, fire officials said. Five engines and 25 firefighters from Phoenix, Medford and Ashland helped extinguish the flames, which spread to surrounding blackberry shrubs before containment. As crews worked to suppress the structure fire, another fire ignited nearby in the 500 block of Carmen Lane. Fire officials said a large oak tree was struck by lightning around 6 p.m. The fire was immediately suppressed. In addition to lightning, blackouts and fire, the thunderstorms brought rain and hail. Rain reports throughout the area ranged from a half-inch in Medford - which saw some flash flooding near Bear Creek - to an inch and a half near Shady Cove. Ashland received .72 inches of rain according to local weather watcher Doyle Hirsch. 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 -