Fire near Oakridge 'wildly unpredictable'
EUGENE, Ore. -- Forest fires in Oregon continue to grow, putting up plumes of smoke that stretch north all the way into Canada.
Along the way, the smoke is choking the skies over Eugene.
Some of that smoke is coming from the Tumblebug fire burning southeast of Oakridge. The fire has burned more than 5,000 acres and is only 10 percent contained. The Boze fire east of Roseburg is approaching 7,000 acres and 35 percent contained.
Firefighters at the Tumblebug fire told KVAL News the fire is wildly unpredictable. They're not sure which direction it will go and how far embers carried aloft by the wind will go. Firefighters are clearing a 200-by-200 foot space right for firefighters to come and use as a safety zone.
Leading that effort: Dozer boss trainee Justin Anderson of Elk City, Idaho, has been fighting fires for 11 years.
"The town I'm from is pretty small and the only options were working for the Forest Service or logging," Anderson said.
Before he starts directing the dozer, Anderson studies a topographic map of the area.
Easier said than done.
"Now I can't look at my map, my topography map and find the peaks or drainages to familiarize myself with the area because it's all smoked in," he said.
After working 15 fires a year for more than a decade, Anderson isn't done: He's in the business for life.
For firefighters on the Boze Fire, they can count on another week of work.
"Progress today was difficult," said Tom Cable, the incident commander. "We had extreme fire behavior. I would say in my 36 years of fire experience this was an epic day of fire behavior."
He hopes to have the fire contained by Oct. 1.
