Initial backfire judge ‘excellent success’
CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. (AP) – Firefighters said Saturday they were making good progress at keeping a 188,000-acre wildfire away from homes in the Illinois Valley after completing six miles of a backfire during the night. About 17,000 residents of the valley in southwestern Oregon had been warned that they could be told to evacuate with only 30 minutes’ notice, although the immediate threat had lessened slightly, fire officials said. Nearly 1,000 people had left in the past week.
The fire was about 5 percent contained Saturday, said Gil Knight, fire spokesman.
“There were a couple of hot spots here and there, but nothing they couldn’t handle. We’re having excellent success,” he said.
U.S. 199 leading into California was reopened Saturday, Knight said.
The backfire was part of a planned 30-mile-long burnout along the fire’s eastern flank designed to remove brush and timber from the blaze’s path.
On Friday, dense smoke loomed over the valley as crews used drip torches and flare pistols to light the backfire.
“It’s scary,” Shari Anderson said as she watched from her front yard.
Cooler, wetter weather was forecast, but that could make it difficult for firefighters to ignite planned backfires, Knight said.
Twenty large fires active around the West on Saturday had charred 658,000 acres, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. So far this year, fires have blackened more then 4 million acres, double the average over the past decade, according to the center in Boise, Idaho.
In southwestern Colorado, the National Park Service has started work to reopen fire-damaged Mesa Verde National Park, but said it will take weeks to make repairs and clean up trails and buildings coated by flame-retardant slurry.
“We have no telephones, no power, no sewer, no water. Other than that we’re doing OK,” Park Superintendent Larry Wiese said.
A week-old fire in the park had burned more than 2,600 acres. Fire bosses said they expected to complete fire lines around the blaze by Monday evening.
The park’s largest and best-known stone ruin, Cliff Palace, was untouched by the flames but is nearly circled by burned stumps.
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On the Net:
National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov
Northwest Interagency Coordination Center: http://www.or.blm.gov
wcc
Mesa Verde National Park: http://www.nps.gov
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