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MAIL TRIBUNE. MeoW, Or.
MonJ.y, Auf. 10, 19S9
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ftirsa f iirt llaiteciis
Woods Silent
After Flames
Pass Through
By ERIC WENTWORTH
Mail Tribune Staff Writer
A hot, dry winter has set
tled -on the hills above Ash
land. The ground is smothered in
a grey, cheerless snow - the
ashes of trees, brush and cre
mated wild creatures.
FLAMES SPEED THROUGH BRUSH - Tinder-dry brush
and grass were principal factors in the rapid spread of
'.GRAY GHOSTS OF TREES-These trees, including oaks,
pmadrone, pine and fir, show how thejr were stripped of all
fWafer Supply Not
Threatened h
IValershed Fire
S2 Damage to the Ashland
watershed from the week end
tfire does not threaten the
.water supplies of the city of
Ashland, according to Carroll
CBrbwn, supervisor of the
Kogue River National forest.
The fire which burned in
rthe watershed was below the
j ctiy's reservoir, he reported,
and thus constitutes nn haz-
ard to the supply of water as
5 such. . -
However, the area below
the reservoir was badly burn
ed over, and because of this
may cause a hazard of flood
ing and heavy run-off water
during bad storm conditions.
Brown has contacted the
regional forest service office
wtp make arrangements for the
immediate seeding of this
area to grass "as soon as", it
cools down." With luck, a
good crop of grass cover "can
have sprouted by the time the
fall rains begin,. Brown said.
Grass is less effective than
trees in containing run-off, he
said, but it far better than
iare earth.. Grass will hold
some of the moisture,- and
will prevent serious . soil
erosion.
About seven per cent of
Til S. men eligible for military
.service are rejected for some
sform of eye defects.
About one -half of the
weight of a broiler chicken is
Wt between the farm and the
opining room table.
SMOKE. ABOVE THE PLAZA-Smoke hung This scene, from the Plaza, gives an idea
heavy over Ashland all day Sunday, as the of .how close the fire came to the city, and
fire moved around and -above the town. . to Lithia park in the background.
the blaze Saturday and Sunday. This close-up view shows
how hotly it fl&ned.
foliage by the fire. All burned as badly as these were killed,
A few with undamaged foliage near the top may survive.
Unlike snow, the ashes tell
no forest secrets. No tracks
of deer or" rabbits criss-cross
the grim surface.
The woods are silent. No
flutter of leaves greets the
wind. The only leaves are an
autumn orange-fingers of fire
that still linger on charred
snags.
The flames that surged up
the steep slopes, in plain sight
of anxious residents and fire
fighters were thorough. For
acre upon acre, not a sign of
green can be seen.
A graveyard of black skele
tons flcked with white ash,
the silent grey blanket over
the earth one could photo
graph these, under the sky
still glazed with smoke, with
either black-and-white or col
ored film-only the flames
would look different.
Smoke Cloud
But the vast pillars that
thrust like an . atomic cloud
thousand of feet into "the air
Saturday evening was a sight
no words or photographs eith
er, can really describe. Its
flames were a brilliant pink
nearly to the top, where a
crown of pure white glistened
in the sun. It was visible in
Grants Pass, and down in
California.
Rogue valley residents
watched in awe as it towered
above them ever-higher.
When night fell, flames in
long lines of skirmish mount
ing the ridges could be seen
for many miles. Their glow
was visible as far south as
Montague, Calif.
The large audience in Ash
land's new Shakespeare festi
val theater were distracted
time and again as the confla
gration flared and roared
along the ridge on their left.
Those in the audience as well
as those on stage were illum
ina ted-in an eerie glow.
"I am fire and air; my oth
er elements I give to baser
life," the dying Cleopatra
cried as the tragedy neared
its end.
Sparks and Embers
Elsewhere in Ashland, resi
dents played hoses on their
roofs and prayed the wind
would not bring cloudbursts
of sparks and embers down
upon them.
Fighting desperately to
save the city's watershed as
well as beautiful Lithia park
and the homes above it, for
estry crews literally "fought
fire with fire." They set nu
merous back-fires, which
leaped up the side of the Ash
land creek canyon to inter
cept the main blaze.
. These, in the early hours of
Sunday, were at times as dra
matic as the major holocaust
itself.
When the sun rose, the
hills seen from Medford were
shrouded in thick smoke. It
was hot Sunday, but the very
lack of a breeze to ventilate
backyards on the valley floor
proved a deciding factor in
the battle against the fire.
Fire Confined
The flames slopped over
ridges here and there, and
trudged slowly up the hill
sides above Ashland. The ex
plosive force that spurred
them across thousands of
acres in a matter of hours
Saturday night appeared
spent. Much of the burning
was within the confines of
fire lines.
Crews began mopping up
in some spots, playing hoses
on the smouldering remains.
Men who had fought on the
firelines all night paused to
ask for food.
Today again layers of
vagrant smoke hung above
the holocaust scene . The air
was nearly still.
The hopes of we?.ry men
rose as the flames subsided.
Barring new winds, the fire
appeared licked. .
But the scorched hills re
main, a grim, wintry scene.
Spring for this Siberia may
come in the autumn, if re
seeding can get under way
that soon. Kn- wing foresters
fear that unless it does, ero
sion from rains late in the
year may further scar the
hillsides.
It may be years, in any
case, before these hills are
green again.
The Passion Play has been
performed in the small vil
lage of Oberammergau, Ger
many, once evey 10 years for
3 )Q years.
BARN DESTROYED-Neighborhood children look at the
site of a barn destroyed by fire Saturday as the blaze
111
BLACK AND GRAY NOTHINGNESS A hot fire leaves,
ashes and charred stumps-and nothing else. This view was
taken looking down over the area where the fire started,
HIGH COMMAND - In
charge of fighting the fire
for . the U.S. forest service
was Carroll Brown (center)
supervisor of the Rogue
River national forest. At
right is Howard Hopkins,
timber management officer
for the forest who was in
charge of many of the
operations, and at right is
J. Herbert Stone, Portland,
regional forester for the
U.S. forest service. : Stone
was here for an inspection
trip into the wilderness
areas of the Butte Fall dis
trict, but the trip was called
off because of the fire. Also
on the job were officials of
the state department of for
estry, headed by District
Warden Curtis Nesheim..
ABOVE ASHLAND - The
city of Ashland's downtown
area can be seen - through
the tracery of burned-out
trees on the hills above,
after the fire passed on to
the south.
Money Reported Taken
From Ice House Here
A total of $52.50 was taken
from a coin nachine 'n the
ice house of Valley Fuel com
pany, 26 West Main st., Fri
day night or early Saturday
morning, Medford police
were informed Saturday.
Harper Ken'- Hamilton,
114 Highland dr., told police
the burglar had crawled? in
and out of the house, where
the money was obtained in a
coin box, through ice chutes.
A new automatic copra dry
er has been placed in opera
tion at Taveuni, Fiji.
lllflllilfs
M o ft 1 liis
MimmmtmmtmmmmmmmmmmmiiBaBmgmimtmmiKmmmmKsamMmmmmmmmmmmmamm torn i in
spread toward Ashland from the Jackson Hoi Springs area,
The barn was located west of the highway at Billings hilL
Siililililfl
above Jackson Hot Springs,
left by the fire.
I
showing the utter desolation