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SUNNY Temp: 72 °F Wind: NW at 4 mph Sunday, August 4, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Cyberchef E The People Golf Job Network Headbone Zone Wellness Connection Movie Times Newspaper in Education Oregon CarZone Outdoor Journal Personals Prime Times Real Estate Tempo A & E TV Times W3 Magazine CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Destinations Automotive Communities Employment Entertainment Publications Real Estate Recreation Shopping Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Jobs @ Mail Tribune Email Story to a Friend July 30, 2002 A firefighting crew from Florida marches in front of Robert Cornett's house on Highway 199 just outside Selma. The Florence fire rages at 70,000 acres in the background. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Thousands of Illinois Valley residents are warned to evacuate ahead of the rampaging Florence fire By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune KERBY — With the towering plume of the 70,000-acre Florence Fire looming behind him, firefighter John Bryson didn’t waste time with small talk. "We are going house-to-house to see if we can help you do anything to triage the house in case it tops the ridge and comes over," Bryson told homeowner Robert Cornett late Monday afternoon. "If you need any help, we’re here to help you move limbs or whatever it takes," Bryson continued. "We want to make sure the fire trucks don’t have any problem if they need to get in here to defend it." Bryson’s squad of firefighters from the Florida Department of Forestry were among those deployed to go quickly door-to-door in the Illinois Valley to help residents in the event the Florence fire roared out of the Siskiyou National Forest. The estimated 20,000-plus residents in the valley, which includes Selma, Kerby, Cave Junction and O’Brien, were warned to be ready to evacuate. The Josephine County Board of Commissioners on Monday declared a state of emergency in the county. The explosive fire, driven by erratic winds that can turn on a whim, was heading largely south Monday night where it was expected to link up with the tail end of the 20,000-acre Sour Biscuit fire burning in a southerly direction in the national forest west of O’Brien. Once united, the roughly 90,000-acre wildfire would stretch some two dozen miles, running nearly parallel along state Highway 199 from Selma to about three miles south of the California state line. In places, the fire was within a few miles of the highway Monday night. The Florence fire, sparked by a lightning storm July 13, has burned the historic McCaleb cabin and two houses at Oak Flat on the lower Illinois River about eight miles west of Selma. Eight outbuildings also have been burned. There are about 860 people assigned to the Florence fire and 380 to the Sour Biscuit fire, according to Forest Service spokesman Deryl Javons. "Right now with the wind conditions, it is extremely dangerous for firefighters to be out there," he said, noting the agency is relying largely on aerial attacks and "indirect" firefighting, which includes back burning ahead of the fire. "It’s so erratic, so unpredictable right now," he said. "That makes it very difficult to fight." "There is fire behavior out there that veteran firefighters have never seen before," added agency spokesman Rick Hartigan. Flames are reportedly shooting as high as 200 feet at times. Tim Birr, a member of the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue and of the state Fire Marshal Overhead Team, watched the fire explode Sunday west of Selma. "The only thing I could compare it to was watching Mount St. Helens erupt in 1981," he said. Meanwhile, too many valley homes may not be defendable if the fire leaves the national forest because brush, grass and trees have not been removed in the immediate vicinity, Birr said. Many local residents weren’t waiting to be told to evacuate. Selma residents Mort Mondale and Elaine Wood were being helped by a friend from Seattle who drove an 18-wheel truck down to help them remove their prized possessions. About two miles south of Cave Junction, Bob and Bonnie Ringo literally had 14 tigers by the tail as they prepared for evacuation. They are the owners of the Wildwood Endangered Animal Sanctuary, which rescues tigers and lions from abusive situations. "We’re hanging tough right now," Bob Ringo said late Monday evening. "We’re waiting to see what happens with the fire." Volunteers led by Bob and Cheryl Henderson, whose home south of Jacksonville was threatened by the now-defunct Squire fire, brought horse trailers to evacuate the big cats if they needed to be moved. Back on Sauer Flat about two miles north of Kerby, Bryson and squad continued going house-to-house to offer their assistance and expertise. A longtime resident, Cornett had cleared the brush from underneath the trees in a stand near his home. "I thought about putting sprinklers on the roof," Cornett told Bryson. "But the thing is, if the fire comes over here, we’re going to be without electricity and the pump will go out anyway." No problem, Bryson said. "It will be easy for a fire truck to come in and put a fire out, unless the flames are 50 feet high," Bryson said. "But you have a farm field across the highway from you, and your grass is mowed. It should be easy to defend this structure." With that, Bryson and his squad fell in line and headed south to the next neighbor. Up the road, neighbors Tim and Lorelei Newman looked at the column of fire, now a mile wide behind Mansfield Mountain. "I don’t think it’s going to reach us, but I just don’t know," Tim Newman said. "They are ‘blue tagging’ the neighbors now," Lorelei Newman said, referring to mailbox tags indicating the family will have only 30 minutes to leave if told to evacuate. "We could do that easily," her husband said. "We’re ready if it comes to that." Highway 199 was closed at the state line Monday because of fires burning in Northern California. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [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 web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S