#oregon border

Agency throws curveball in largest US dam demolition plan along Oregon border

Record – In this March 3, 2020 document photograph, overabundance water overflows the head of a dam on the lower Klamath River known as Copco 1 close Hornbrook, Calif. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File)AP

PORTLAND — Federal controllers on Thursday tossed a huge curve at an alliance that has been making arrangements for years to wreck four huge hydroelectric dams on a waterway along the…

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SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOREST, Calif | Official: Wildfire near California-Oregon border will keep stretch of major interstate closed through weekend

SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOREST, Calif.  — Official: Wildfire near California-Oregon border will keep stretch of major interstate closed through weekend.

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SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. | Wildfire closes key California highway through the weekend

SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOREST, Calif.— A stretch of a major interstate near the California-Oregon border will remain closed through the weekend as crews try to tame a wildfire roaring along the roadway, forcing truckers and other motorists to take lengthy detours, officials said Friday.

The blaze that shut down 45 miles (72 kilometers) of Interstate 5 in California on Wednesday was still burning out of control in the rural area, said Denise Yergenson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

It has destroyed thousands of trees — some 70 feet (20 meters) tall — that could fall onto the roadway, she said. “There is lots of damage, lots of emergency personnel. It’s just not a safe situation,” she said.

Officials on Sunday will reevaluate whether to reopen the highway that traverses the entire West Coast from Mexico to Canada and serves as a main artery for commerce.

It became a ghost road after fire turned hills on either side into walls of flame. Drivers fled in terror and several big-rigs burned.

Drivers for RLT Trucking were slowly making deliveries by taking two-lane mountain roads with bumper-to-bumper traffic that added hours to their trips, company president Al Shufelberger said. About 140 truckers haul cargo for the company based in Redding, south of the blaze.

He said only one customer demanded to know why a shipment wasn’t coming on time.

“We just sent him articles from our local newspaper about the fire. He said, ‘Sorry, do what you can,'” Shufelberger recalled with a laugh.

The Delta Fire had burned more than 34 square miles (89 square kilometers) of timber and brush and prompted evacuation orders for scattered homes and buildings in three counties in and around Shasta-Trinity National Forest. At times, flames shot 300 feet (91 meters) into the air.

About 280 homes were considered threatened, but the blaze wasn’t burning near any large towns, fire spokesman Brandon Vacarro said. There were some reports that homes had burned, but Vacarro could only confirm that an outbuilding and two mixed-use commercial and residential buildings had been damaged.

Patience ran thin at Pilot Travel Center in the town of Weed, near the northern end of the closure, with facilities at the truck stop stretched to the limit and parked big rigs lining nearby roads.

“It’s been ridiculously congested. It’s been frantic,” cashier Jacob Chapman said Thursday. “A lot of the truckers are upset. They’re just stuck, they can’t get through and they’re sick of waiting around.”

California has been hit with one massive blaze after another, including a blaze not far from the Delta Fire that killed eight people and burned about 1,100 homes last month.

The unrelenting flames have drained California’s firefighting budget and prompted victims to file more than 10,000 claims totaling nearly $1 billion in property claims — even before the start of the dangerous fall fire season, officials said.

The previous fire near Redding and another in the Mendocino area — the two largest blazes in the state this year — destroyed or damaged 8,800 homes and 329 businesses, Insurance Commissioner David Jones said. The Mendocino fire was expected to be fully contained by Sunday, more than six weeks after it started.

The director of the state’s firefighting agency said it only had about $11 million remaining in its annual budget and anticipates needing another $234 million to add firefighters and helicopters, and to cover other costs of fires expected later this year.

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CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif | California wildfire burns 12 buildings, threatens hundreds

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. (AP) — A wind-driven wildfire destroyed a dozen buildings and threatened hundreds of others Sunday as it raced across dry brush in rural Northern California.

The Pawnee Fire, which broke out Saturday near the small community of Clearlake Oaks, was one of four wildfires burning in largely rural areas as wind and heat gripped a swath of California from San Jose to the Oregon border.

The blaze destroyed 12 buildings and threatened an additional 600 as it burned out of control across about 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers). It is north of the wine country region where devastating wildfires killed 44 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses last October.

Authorities ordered people to evacuate all homes in the residential area of Spring Valley and surrounding areas. Evacuation centers for residents and animals were being opened. No injuries were reported.

“What we’re stressing is that people, when they get the evacuation order, they heed it immediately and get out and stay out until it is safe to return,” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Battalion Chief Jonathan Cox said.

“This is one of four large fires burning in Northern California. It’s a good reminder that fire season is upon us,” he said.

Another blaze consumed 5.5 square miles in nearby Tehama County but did not burn any buildings. Some homes were threatened and some had been evacuated, Cox said, although he did not have specific numbers. It was partially contained.

Another smaller fire, also in Tehama County, was nearly halfway contained after consuming less than a mile of brush. The fourth fire, in neighboring Shasta County, smaller still, was three-fourths contained.

The Pawnee Fire was being driven by erratic winds, low humidity and high temperatures. Firefighters battled it in a rugged area that made it difficult to get engines and other equipment up close. “It’s kind of the worst possible combination,” Cox said.

Fire officials had no estimate on when it might be contained and didn’t yet know what caused it.

Matthew Henderson, who was in the area taking photographs, said he saw the fire jump a road at one point, briefly cutting off access to part of Spring Valley until firefighters pushed it back. More than 230 firefighters using helicopters, bulldozers and other equipment were battling the blaze.