Document text
Crews fight 1,000-acre forest fire By PAUL FATTIG YREKA - A wildfire sparked by a burn barrel on private land has raced through slightly more than 1,000 acres in the parched Klamath National Forest about 15 miles due south of Mount Ashland. The quickly moving Jones Fire, which started Wednesday afternoon, shows no signs of slowing down in the drought-stricken region, said Jon Silvius, forest spokesman. A smokey haze from the fire began to drift into the Rogue Valley Thursday night. "The fire behavior it's demonstrating is just unbelievable," said Silvius, a veteran firefighter. "In early May we could expect it to burn a couple of acres, maybe even 10 acres. "But a thousand acres in the second week of May? Unbelievable. It's burning like mid-July out there." About 700 firefighters and support staff, including crews from Oregon, fought the blaze Thursday evening. There was no estimate of when the fire would be contained. Although the fire started on private property, it burned away from homes near the community of Klamath River into the forest, Silvius said. No buildings were threatened, he added. The fire is burning in the steep, rugged Beaver Creek drainage. "It's a rough area with lots rolling rocks, poison oak and rattlesnakes," Silvius said. One air tanker carrying loads of fire retardant and a helicopter equipped with a large bucket to dip from the Klamath River were assisting ground crews Thursday afternoon. Two other air tankers and three helicopters were en route, Silvius said. The unusually early wildfire has caused firefighting agencies to speed up their preparations for the fire season, he said. "We're still three weeks out from fire season," he said, adding, "Everyone is really hustling to get into position." The problem is that the region received only about 30 percent of normal precipitation during the winter, he said. "The forest litter and brush really never got drenched like it should," he said. "With the afternoon canyon winds pushing the fire, the thing just took off." Across the state line in Southern Oregon, where precipitation is only 50 percent of average for the year, state Department of Forestry officials are discouraging debris burning because of the swiftly increasing fire danger. Fire season is expected to be declared soon in Jackson and Josephine counties, officials said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.