Thousands of Firefighters Stay on Lines at Stubborn Blazes

Thousands of firefighters remained on the job Saturday in hard-hit Northern California while others in Oregon and Idaho made slow progress against the last major forest fires in the three states.

Fires in the West have burned more than 1,100 square miles since Aug. 28.

In California, about 8,500 of the 11,000 firefighters fighting the fires Saturday were concentrated on two dozen uncontained and extremely smoky fires in the Klamath National Forest where 174,000 acres have already been scorched.

‘Picture Is Good’

“We’ve got areas where we’re having trouble hanging on, but generally the fire picture is good,” U.S. Forest Service spokesman Bruce Bundick said at a command post in Yreka, Calif. Fires have burned 572,000 acres statewide.

At the Salmon Mountains to the south, about 2,500 firefighters were working on 11 uncontained fires in the Shasta and Trinity national forests.

In Redding, fire spokeswoman Kay McQuaid said Trinity forest fires have claimed 85,631 acres and 2,580 firefighters remained at work on Saturday.

“Things are fairly under control and unless something drastic happens, they’re hoping . . . to have everything contained by the 21st,” she said.

The Klamath firefighters Saturday also played host to a team of forestry officials from the People’s Republic of China.

Liu Guang Yun, China’s vice minister of forestry, and two other officials flew in from Boise, Ida., to observe the firefighting efforts for a day, according to Jon Silvius at the fire information center in Yreka.

“They’re here to understand how we organize and some of our strategies, how they’re utilized,” he said, adding that a few months ago China experienced a devastating string of wildfires on valuable timberland.

In Idaho, firefighters were close to controlling a large fire in the Nez Perce National Forest.

Inversion Layer

And in Oregon, crews battling fires that have burned 38,800 acres in the Siskiyou National Forest were hampered by a weather phenomenon known as an inversion layer that trapped smoke near the ground.

“With the inversion layer it kept our aircraft grounded for all but about an hour yesterday afternoon,” said Doug Salyer, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.

Five more crews were placed on the fires west of Grants Pass on Saturday, bringing the total number of firefighters to 1,089.