Sunday, September 21, 2008

Oregon Forest Fire


Oregon Forest Fire, originally uploaded by Gamut's Edge.

I took this photo a couple days ago while flying between San Francisco and Seattle. We were over southern Oregon. I think this is the Royce Fire. This is the biggest forest fire I've ever seen from the air -- even bigger looking than the Big Sur fires from earlier this summer.

Apparently upon first seeing this fire a Delta flight crew called Air Traffic Control to report "Hey, I think one of your volcanoes is going off". They were completely serious.

3 comments:

Gregg P said...

Believe it or not, this fire topped out at a mere 381 acres. It scared a lot of people in Northern Klamath County because it burned right through a small community in the heart of hunting and mushroom season. When it closed the highway, a lot of people had to go west or east as it split the community right in half. Not much damage, but the fuels it burned are classic. In recent years, the area had been thinned so damage was not nearly as bad as it could have been.

Gregg P said...

Actually, now that I look at the photo more closely, that migh be the "Rattle" fire in the Umpqua NF. About 17,000 acres.

Dave said...

Thanks for the comments.

I think you might be right. I just google earthed Umpqua NF and it looks like the correct area for this photo.