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Click Here 39 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, February 6, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend July 13, 2003 Dry spring, heat, lightning fueled 2002 fires By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune For triggering wildfires, it was the perfect series of storms converging on the region. A battle group of dry lightning storms rumbled into parched southwestern Oregon and northwestern California a year ago this weekend, firing salvos of fiery bolts into dry brush and timberlands. Toasted by five days of triple-digit temperatures the week following Independence Day, the region was primed for explosive fires. It had already endured a dry spring on the heels of a winter with below-average rainfall. Advertisement Adding fuel to the fire danger was the fact local forests had yet to recover from 2001, another extremely dry year. The storms hit Douglas and Klamath counties on July 12, causing numerous fires and draining firefighting staff and equipment from southwestern Oregon. The charged tempests attacked the Rogue and Applegate valleys the next day, triggering 35 lightning-caused fires. "At that point, it was a matter of scrounging up resources to deal with all of them," recalled Jeff Schwanke, the ODF’s district forester in southwestern Oregon. Before the last wildfire was extinguished in the fall, thousands of firefighters from across the United States and some from as far away as Australia would fight fires in the region. Local residents lived in a netherworld of smoke and anxiety. Asthma patients and others with chronic respiratory problems filled hospital emergency rooms. More than 6,000 firefighters were assigned to the Biscuit fire alone, which cost more than $100 million to extinguish. That fire burned nearly half a million acres largely in the Siskiyou National Forest, making it the largest in the nation last year. Not since 1865, when the Silverton fire scorched 988,000 acres, had Oregon had a bigger fire, according to Oregon Department of Forestry records. While the Biscuit fire received national attention, smaller fires closer to rural communities ignited as much local concern. The Squires fire in the eastern end of the Applegate Valley, burning among hundreds of homes, was heavily attacked. Firefighters on the ground and in the air contained it to some 2,800 acres in about a week. Meanwhile, a small fire north of Trail stubbornly burned away in rugged terrain. The Timbered Rock fire would grow to more than 27,000 acres. In Douglas County, a group of fires known as the Tiller Complex burned about 40,000 acres before it was snuffed out. But Mother Nature wasn’t through just yet. When temperatures broiled to 108 degrees in Medford on Aug. 13, a drooping tree branch contacted a power line on Grizzly Peak, sparking what became known as the East Antelope fire. That fire, the last major wildfire of 2002, burned 1,900 acres. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times