But More Lightning Is Forecast : Firefighters Gain Ground on Oregon, Idaho Blazes

Facing the possibility of new fires from a third lightning storm this weekend, some 17,000 firefighters nonetheless made progress Thursday in their battle to control 330,000 acres of forest fires still raging in Oregon and Idaho.

“We really feel good today--we’re optimistic,” said Dave Damron, a spokesman for the Boise Interagency Fire Center, the nation’s command center for fighting wildfires. “We have people and equipment in place, a lot of minor fires have been taken care of, and we’re now attacking the ones that are more difficult to fight or get resources to.

‘We’re Optimistic’

“But it will still take us a week to get everything under control--if there’s no more starts. We’re optimistic, unless we get more lightning this weekend.”

After nearly two weeks of fighting range fires and forest fires in Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Utah and Nevada, Damron said most of the fires still burning are in Idaho and Oregon, with the Oregon situation the more serious because hundreds of fires are scattered over thousands of acres.

One Oregon official described this summer’s lightning-spawned firestorm as the worst in a generation. “The thing that’s unique about this year--everyone agrees we haven’t faced so much fire going at one time,” said Jim Fisher, an information officer with the Oregon Unified Command Center, which is coordinating firefighting efforts in the state.

“There’s never been so many of this size. Not since 1951 have there been so many fires that really taxed our resources.”

‘It’s Guerrilla Warfare’

Fisher said that while the state has had bigger fires than those that have broken out this summer, “this year it’s guerrilla warfare and not a traditional battle line.” He said 206 fires of varying size were raging in the eastern part of the state.

The state has established three command posts to combat the blazes, which have drawn off virtually all of the state’s firefighting resources:

--In Enterprise, where 86 fires ranging in size to 14,000 acres are being fought by 1,500 firefighters, 20% of the fires have been contained.

--In Baker, where 36 fires burning 6,000 acres are being fought by 1,900 firefighters, 90% of the fires have been contained.

--In Pendleton, where 84 fires, 10% of them contained, cover 2,850 acres and are being fought by 1,049 firefighters.

Flat Ridges, Deep Canyons

Much of the terrain in the burning areas is rugged and steeply sloped--long flat ridges giving abruptly away to deep canyons.

In the southeastern part of the state, five major range fires--80,000 acres--were expected to be under control by Thursday night, Fisher said.

The current burst of lightning-caused fires began about Aug. 1, when the first of two weekend storms raked the Northwest with dry lightning. “Two lightning storms over two weekends started 550 fires in five Northwestern states,” said Damron of the Boise center. “In three to five days, 17,000 firefighters were almost all mobilized.”

Last summer saw about the same level of wildfires, Damron said, but over a six-to eight-week period.

More Lightning Forecast

Firefighting efforts were hampered Thursday by hot, dry weather, but winds remained relatively calm. A weather forecaster at the Boise center has reported a “possibility” of another lightning storm this weekend. Damron said it is the “same forecaster who predicted the last two lightning storms.”

There have been 40,000 lightning strikes a day in 11 Western states for the past 12 days, Damron said.

In Idaho, firefighting efforts have been supported by National Guard troops under a declaration of an extreme emergency by Gov. John V. Evans. The most difficult fire--about 6,000 acres--smoldered in the Garden Valley area about 40 miles north of Boise, where efforts Thursday were directed at protecting property improvements.

Light Toll Reported

Thus far, the Northwest fires have exacted a relatively light toll on man. There have been only five notable injuries among 17,000 firefighters, no fatalities and only one barn, one cabin and one fire tower have been destroyed, all in Idaho.