GRANTS PASS, Ore., Sept. 6 (UPI) -- The United States' largest active wildfire was declared fully contained, but was still burning, after blackening nearly a half-million acres in the mountains of southwestern Oregon, fire officials said Friday.
The final 4 miles of a 400-mile fire line carved out around the massive Biscuit Fire was completed Thursday evening, however the incident commanders said the blaze was still burning inside the fire lines.
"There is still a lot of fire activity within the perimeter, and until we have a season-ending rain event, there is still the potential for the fire to escape beyond the fire lines," Fire Staff Officer M.J. Harvie said in a release.
The type of heavy rain needed to snuff out the Biscuit Fire was not expected to hit the Siskiyou National Forest until October or November, Harvie lamented, and firefighters will remain in the vicinity ready to respond to any last-gasp run the blaze might make while the hot, dry early-fall weather pattern continues.
The Biscuit Fire was started July 13 when lightning struck the parched forest. At one point, some 17,000 residents of the Illinois River Valley were poised to evacuate, but the fire was held off and destroyed just four homes.
President Bush used the Biscuit Fire as a backdrop late last month for his call to revamp regulations governing the removal of brush and trees from fire-prone forests, and the blaze also brought in fire crews from Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
"We've still got work to do," Firefighter Mark Wilkening told The Oregonian. "We're not marking this with any special celebrations, but we feel good about the job we've done."
Fifteen large fires were burning in the West Friday totaling more than 142,000 acres, some of which were being allowed to burn themselves out and do the type of brush clearance that foresters say is necessary to ensure forest health and clear out potentially dangerous fuels.
The larger blazes included the 40,000-acre Kraft Spring Fire in Montana, and the 18,000-acre Curve Fire in the Angeles National Forest of Southern California, which officials believe was started by the careless use of candles during a nocturnal ritual involving the sacrifice of a goat.
(Reported by Hil Anderson in Los Angeles)
