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Lightning ignites wildfires BY PAUL FATTIG Dry lightning zapped portions of Jackson and Josephine counties beginning late Tuesday afternoon, sparking several wildfires. The largest was a four-acre fire burning on a ridge near Wilcox Peak in the Sardine Creek drainage about three miles southeast of Wimer. However, firefighters warn that it may be several days before all the lightning-sparked fires are discovered. Two loads of fire retardant were dropped by airplanes on the Wilcox Peak blaze shortly after it was reported about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. One airplane was based at the Medford airport; the other in Klamath Falls. The Oregon Department of Forestry deployed ground crews to fight the fire. Lightning strikes were also reported in the Colestin Valley south of Ashland, in the upper Rogue River watershed and in northern Josephine County. Hailstones the size of cherries were reported falling between Union Creek and Crater Lake. Watching over it all was Ken Struck, a retired Medford Fire Department captain who, along with his wife, Colleen, staff the ODF fire lookout station atop Soda Mountain a dozen air miles southeast of Ashland. The peak rises to 6,091 feet above sea level. "There is a pretty good storm north of us right now," Struck reported late Tuesday evening from his mountaintop perch. "There are a lot of clouds building up, a lot of lightning." The series of lightning storms that began Monday are the first for the fire season, noted Struck, one of the fire lookouts to report the Wilcox Peak fire. Fires sparked by lightning can smolder for several days before roaring to life, he said. "They've tracked them upwards of seven days," he said. "We'll keep watching for them." Struck can expect more thunderstorms through Saturday, although some rain may accompany the thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service office at the Medford airport. The mercury is expected to reach the mid-80s today, followed by about 90 degrees on Thursday. Thunderstorms are predicted through Saturday. A lightning storm that drummed its way through portions of Jackson County early Monday left three small fires in the Sardine and Wards creek drainages. Those fires were quickly snuffed out, according to an ODF dispatcher. Another fire ignited by lightning Monday night burned about a quarter of an acre near Woodpecker Springs in the Rogue River National Forest before it was controlled by a fire crew, according to a dispatcher for the Rogue Fire Center at the Medford airport. "We've had downstrikes all over the forest since then," the dispatcher said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA