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Holiday fires all small Biggest destroys pump house By JILL BRISKEY After the sparks died down and the ashes settled Wednesday night, Rogue Valley firefighters counted themselves lucky. Throughout Jackson County, fire crews spent the evening hopping from one complaint to the next, investigating calls about illegal fireworks or putting out small fires. However, preliminary reports show that this year's Independence Day ended without any major injuries or property damage - despite high fire danger and drought-like conditions. The county's biggest fire Wednesday was in Ashland. Capt. Don White of the Ashland Fire Department said the blaze took place at 10:30 p.m. in a field near Windmill Inn off of Ashland Street. The one-acre fire - which investigators believe was started by fireworks - destroyed a pump house owned by a resident before it was extinguished, White said. Nobody was injured, he added. Ashland firefighters responded to 10 other fires Wednesday night, all of them minor, White said. A spokesman for the Medford Fire Department said crews were called to a one- to three-acre blaze, possibly ignited by fireworks, near Table Rock Road at 10:30 p.m. Additional information regarding the fire, which was visible from Interstate 5, was unavailable. Across the Rogue Valley, crews investigated reports of tiny, fireworks-related fires Wednesday, including burning trash cans, bushes or tiny grass fires. Most were extinguished by ordinary garden hoses before firefighters arrived, said Deputy Fire Marshal Don Hickman of Fire District 3. Hickman said many of this year's fireworks-related blazes were caused by Ground Blooms - a legal firework that has the potential to spin out of control. "They get errant and flip into the weeds," he said. Last week, Hickman said, three local juveniles confessed to accidentally igniting a half-acre grass fire in Gold Hill. The blaze, which took place June 27, ignited when a Ground Bloom reportedly lighted by a teen spun out of control and landed on a dry, grassy hillside. The teens fled the scene but later confessed, Hickman added. Medford Police Lt. Mike Moran said reports of fireworks-related complaints were up this year in the city. This year, police received 154 calls between June 23 and July 5. In 2000, 124 calls were made, Moran said. "It was pretty much your average Fourth of July in Medford," Moran said. "There was no major property damage or injures that were reported." Approximately 44 calls were made to Medford police July 4 regarding fireworks, Moran said. Eleven of those calls became actual cases. Reach reporter Jill Briskey at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.