Strong wind rousts trash fire

Fanned by sudden high winds, a permitted trash fire at a residence on Ponderosa Loop quickly went out of control Sunday afternoon, bringing the Cloverdale RFPD out in force.

Bill and Kathy Wolfe, occupants of the house in the Ponderosa Cascade Estates subdivision, had obtained a burning permit from the Cloverdale Fire Department, and reportedly had started their fire between 8 and 9 a.m. Sunday.

The unexpected northwest wind struck about 1 p.m., quickly spreading the remainder of the Wolfes' burning pile eastward across three lots and part of the subdivision's common area, igniting bitterbrush and dry weeds and grasses over an estimated three- fourths acre. The last hot spots were quenched some three hours later.

Cloverdale Fire Chief Chuck Cable said Monday that although the Oregon Department of Forestry has officially ended the 1995 fire season with the closure of its Hinkle Butte lookout, burning conditions are still unpredictable.

The fire department's standard burning permit, instituted this year, requires that trash fires be extinguished immediately if wind starts to blow, or if for any reason the permittee plans to leave the fire unattended.

Such fires are limited to daylight hours under the permit, but Cable said the best time to burn is between sunup and 11 a.m. when temperatures are low and humidity high. Regardless of permit, fires are not permitted during periods of high wind.

Burning piles should be attended constantly until all free- burning material has been extinguished, he added.

The permit requires a 10- foot clearing down to mineral earth around the base of a burning pile. Fires must be no closer than 40 feet from any building and 20 feet away from trees.

Permittees also must have a shovel and charged hose line or five gallons of water available at the burning site. Other grubbing tools can be helpful, too, Cable said.

In the past, Cloverdale residents had only to telephone the fire department for verbal permission to burn. Now patrons must come into the fire station on George Cyrus Road, read the permit form and ask questions about anything they don't understand, Cable said. Only after that will a permit be issued.

Once they possess a permit, users must call the department at 548- 4815 before they burn to ensure that open burning is in effect at that time.

"We're using the permit system to minimize the potential for runaway fires," Cable asserted. "And," he added, "people should always use common sense when they work with fire."