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Happy Camp-area fire forces retreat From staff and wire reports Firefighters were tightening the noose around a fire in Oregon's Kalmiopsis Wilderness on Friday, but a blaze just across the border was forcing crews to pull back. Spreading flames and burning debris rolling downhill posed an extreme safety hazard for firefighters on the Happy Camp complex on the Klamath National Forest, just over the border in California. Crews were pulling back to the ridgetops, making way for the blaze to grow from 1,499 acres to a maximum of 8,000 acres. "We can't stop it," U.S. Forest Service spokesman Bud Ivey said. "It's too steep. We're going to retreat back to the ridgelines where we can defend successfully. We feel we need to protect our firefighters." Ivey said directly attacking the fire has not been working because burning snags have been falling and rolling downhill in the steep terrain, igniting new fires below firefighters that could overrun them as the flames move back uphill. Controlled backburns inside fire lines were planned tonight after conditions improve, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Scott Isaacson. This new strategy is likely to produce heavy smoke, officials said. Full containment was still not in sight Friday. Meanwhile, the Craggie fire burning about 35 miles southwest of Grants Pass in the Siskiyou National Forest crept up to 270 acres. Fire bosses figured they would have it fully contained by 6 p.m. Monday, when there is a chance of more thunderstorms, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Joni Quarnstrom. Firefighters completed a line around the north, west and south flanks of the fire, as five helicopters dumped water on hot spots and ferried gear into the remote area. Eight smokejumpers, who parachuted into the fire on Sept. 15, have been joined by Union, Klamath, Ruby Mountain and Vale hotshots. Quarnstrom credited the success in fighting the fire in such rugged country to these elite firefighters, known as Type I crews. The Craggie fire began Sept. 15 when lightning struck in drought-parched brush between Tincup Pass and Hayward Mountain in the northern central portion of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The lightning storms, which also passed through the Medford area early that morning, exploded with about 7,600 lightning strikes in Josephine and Jackson counties over a 10-hour period. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.