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Smoke from California fires fills Valley A little wind or some rain could make it disappear By Chris Bristol of the Mail Tribune Talk about blowing smoke. A huge forest fire burning out of control south of the California border made the Rogue Valley a hazy mess Saturday. Whether it stays that way depends literally on which way the wind blows. A little rain wouldn't hurt, either. Based on the latest forecast, don't hold your breath. The haze that plagued the region came courtesy of the lightning-caused Big Bar Complex fires in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest east of Eureka, which flared in late August and have continued to burn out of control in recent weeks. The worst one, formally known as the Megram Fire, has already burned more than 114,000 acres. "We estimate Megram at 55 percent contained," Kim Kerr, spokeswoman for the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services, said Saturday. "Obviously, it's still going." She said the air quality in coastal Eureka has been so bad, even the fog smells. "Don't complain to us," she warned. "We've been dealing with this for over a month now. Some days we're actually getting ash. "It would help if it would just rain," she added. "But the way I hear it, that's not going to happen any time soon." Ditto, Medford. Larry Jacobs, a hydrometereologist at the National Weather Service in Medford, said a weekend cold front that once bore promise for precipitation has petered out. "We're looking at a slight chance of rain tonight, but it's getting slimmer all the time," he said. "The front is very weak." The forecast: nothing until Tuesday at the earliest. The last time it "rained" was Oct. 6, when meteorologists recorded a whopping 0.11 inches. September saw just .02 inches. Normal for this time of year -- September and October -- is 1.74 inches. All of which means the Megram Fire will continue to burn. And as long as it does, the smoke will still get in your eyes. "Some of it will probably purge out tonight," Jacobs said. "But it's going to linger a while until that fire's out down there.'' Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA