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SUNNY Temp: 51 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, November 21, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend July 17, 2002 Nelson Thomas, who owns 100 acres on Spencer Gulch, runs down a hill to talk with state firefighters after he was warned that the Squire fire had jumped firelines and was closing in on structures on his property. Click the photo to see a larger (43k) version; use your Back button to return to the story. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Fire’s still winning The Squire blaze again jumps containment lines; some are asked to evacuate By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Firefighters tried to rein in the Squire fire Tuesday, but afternoon winds again pushed the fire beyond containment lines, and Jackson County sheriff’s deputies asked some residents of Sterling Creek to leave their homes as night fell. Related stories: � Up against the Wall: Some residents near Trail question firefighting procedures . � A roundup of major wildfires in Southern Oregon and Northern California . "It’s burning pretty heavy in the Armstrong Gulch area," Sterling Creek resident John Henderson said about 9 p.m. "They’ve got a lot of (fire) engines out there." Henderson said the fire was burning down Hukill Hollow, about a mile east of the historic Buncom townsite, and flames were moving downhill toward homes, barns and sheds along Sterling Creek. Firefighters also asked residents of about six homes on Hukill Hollow to leave. The American Red Cross provided shelter at Jacksonville Elementary School for people who fled the flames. Sterling Creek Road and logging roads in the fire area were closed to nonresidents to prevent gawkers from creating problems for firefighters. Residents of the 5000 to 10000 blocks of Sterling Creek Road were advised to leave, said fire information officer Howard Hunter. Henderson said some residents of Sterling Creek had moved their livestock and treasured possessions out of the danger area during the day, so they could depart quickly if flames approached. The fire grew to about 1,800 acres during the afternoon when it moved into a recently logged area, and flames consumed acres of fresh logging slash. Firefighters could not say when they would put a containment line around it. "I’m a little shy about making a containment guess right now," fire boss Dan Thorpe told a group of about 100 local residents at the Upper Applegate Grange. Thorpe said other fires across Oregon were competing with the Squire fire for air tankers, helicopters and firefighting crews. By late in the day, both airplanes that dropped retardant on the fire Monday had been diverted to other fires, said Jeff Schwanke, the Oregon Department of Forestry’s regional forester for southwest Oregon. "I’m not sure we’re going to see any more air tankers," Schwanke said. "Without any air tankers or more resources, they’ll be lucky to hold it," said Haydn Lee, who lives on Sterling Creek Road just beyond the area where residents were asked to evacuate. Some rural landowners in the path of the flames worked furiously during the day to try to save their homes, barns and shed from the flames. Nelson Thomas, who owns 100 acres on Spencer Gulch, was in his fourth day of watching flames creep ever closer to his place. "We were told to evacuate three times," said Thomas, who lives in Jacksonville. "I’ve been coming out here about 3 in the afternoon and working until 9 in the morning." Firefighters worked to contain the fire early in the day while cooler temperatures and higher humidity slowed its advance. About 2:30 in the afternoon, wind pushed the flames into the fresh logging slash, and the fire crept east, hurling a brilliant white cloud into the sky while dense smoke swirled across the ridges east of Squires Peak and Woodrat Mountain. Thorpe said about 80 percent of the fire was in "great shape" during the day, but "with all that fuel and the afternoon wind, the fire got pretty active." Thorpe said firefighters would work until daybreak to halt the fire by building containment lines with bulldozers. Other crews would try to deprive the fire of fuel by deliberately setting fire to unburned areas between the fire and the containment line. "We have a very narrow window to do that firing," he said, noting that firefighters need some air movement to make the strategy work, but not so much wind that the fire becomes unmanageable. Several people at the public meeting asked fire bosses how they could get more accurate information and more frequent updates about the fire. Thorpe reassured them that he wanted to provide the best information he could, but told them it’s essentially impossible to know what the fire is doing every hour. Thorpe said firefighters would try to give homeowners at least two hours notice if they had to leave their homes. Several people at the meeting urged their neighbors to make an evacuation plan well in advance. "If you don’t, two hours is not going to be enough time," said Matt Epstein, who lives in the hills above the burned area on Spencer Gulch. "We’ve got to take some responsibility ourselves to be prepared for the disaster we’re facing." More than 400 firefighters were committed to the fire, but Schwanke said additional resources would be hard to come by in fire-beleaguered Oregon. The Squire fire went from third in priority for resources on Monday to eighth on Tuesday as new fires popped up in eastern Oregon and others grew to more than 10,000 acres. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S