Ore, Calif fires kept away from homes

SELMA, Ore., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Cooperative weather gave firefighters in Oregon some breathing room Thursday as they extended a firebreak that should help protect communities lining Oregon's Highway 199 from two massive wildfires threatening the entire Illinois River Valley.

What are known as the Florence and Sour Biscuit Fires grew to a combined acreage of nearly 190,000 acres and remained largely out of control Thursday, however light winds moderated the fire and allowed crews to reinforce fire lines carved out between the two blazes and the small towns of Cave Junction and Selma.

"I don't know if anyone in the valley is resting any easier, but from our standpoint, we are starting to accomplish some of the things we've wanted to accomplish, so it was a good day," Fire Information Officer Deryl Jevons told United Press International.

Bulldozers have been plowing a 30-mile long firebreak in the valley all week as more than 17,000 anxious residents waited on pins and needles for the word to evacuate the area. Fire engines as far away as 300 miles in Portland were patrolling neighborhoods for any flying embers that might set a home on fire.

"Dozer" lines are often 50 feet wide, but fire bosses generally don't feel secure until they are able to widen them further by lighting backfires that burn out much larger areas of brush and other undergrowth. Wind and humidity conditions Wednesday night were just right for "hotshot" crews to safely ignite backfires and the breeze remained light through Thursday.

"They burned last night and they burned during the day," Jevons said. "Mother Nature gave us a little bit of a break and we're using that chance to get ahead and get some work accomplished."

Jevons said the incident commanders planned to gradually conduct burnouts along the entire 30-mile stretch of fire lines.

The placid winds in southern Oregon were expected to continue Friday, but the National Weather Service warned that humidity levels would remain low. Fire weather advisories were issued to the northeast in the Pendleton area as well as around Billings, Montana and Reno, Nevada.

Elsewhere, the town of Julian in the mountains east of San Diego appeared to be safe for the time being from the Pines Fire, and approximately 300 evacuated residents might be going home soon.

Fire Information Officer Eric Hernandez said the blaze, which has destroyed nine homes, grew to 20,300 acres, but was 30-percent contained and moving away from the popular tourist community. Twenty-one air tankers and helicopters that were on the scene backed up a relative army of 2,149 firefighters. It was anticipated that the fire would be fully contained by sundown Sunday.

"Sometime this evening, officials will make a determination as to who to let back in, where and what time," Hernandez told UPI.

The fire that was started Monday when a low-flying National Guard helicopter severed a power line remained a potential threat to 425 structures on the outskirts of Julian as it burned through dry brush and areas of dead trees killed by an earlier insect infestation.

Elsewhere, an Army battalion that had been mopping up Oregon's Monument Fire was transferred Tuesday to the Tiller Complex, a 26,850-acre area of the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness Area.

The McNalley fire that at one point had threatened the ancient trees of California's Giant Sequoia National Monument was up to 92,500 acres Thursday and 40-percent contained.

The 2,400-acre Panorama fire in Garfield County, Colorado destroyed two homes north of El Jebel on Wednesday and continued to threaten about 100 other residences while Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park, which has a rich inventory of ancient Indian ruins, remained closed by the 3,000-acre Long Mesa fire.

(Reported by Hil Anderson in Los Angeles)