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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Env-trinity subscribers,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have deleted the pictures from the article below
because I don't want to clog your inbox with a 1 mb file, but you might want to
look at them online. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>One picture is of a helicopter sucking water from
the pool upstream of Hell Hole, with Hell Hole in the foreground. It's
pretty classic, but not good for the rafters.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tom Stokely</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_4282010">http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_4282010</A></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<TD class=mediaCaption vAlign=top
align=right><EM><STRONG>Shaun Walker / Times-Standard
</STRONG></EM></TD></TR>
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<P>A helicopter hovers just above Hell Hole as it sucks
water up a hose near Big Flat on Saturday afternoon. It
and other others were dropping water on a fire blazing
above Highway 299.<A class=listingArticleLinkTo
href="http://northcoast101.com/nc/video_player.php?v=14"
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT color=#000000 size=2>[Watch
Video]</FONT></STRONG></A></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD>
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<TD class=mediaCaption vAlign=top
align=right><EM><STRONG>Shaun Walker / Times-Standard
</STRONG></EM></TD></TR>
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<P>A U.S. Forest Service truck drives past billowing
smoke near Hell Hole.<A class=listingArticleLinkTo
href="http://northcoast101.com/nc/video_player.php?v=14"
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT color=#000000 size=2>[Watch
Video]</FONT></STRONG></A></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD>
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<TD colSpan=3><IMG height=5
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width=1 border=0></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>BIG FLAT A wind-blown
wildfire that started small along Highway 299 on Saturday morning
quickly spread to over 1,000 acres, causing Big Flat to be evacuated
and the road to be closed.
<P>Firefighters, helicopters and tanker planes, already nearby
because of the Bar Complex fires, attacked the Pigeon Fire soon
after it started about 4 miles upstream of Big Flat shortly before
10 a.m. By noon, it had grown to about 30 acres. Winds blew the fire
to the north and the west and it covered about 1,000 acres at 6 p.m.
The fire had burned back down to the highway in one area, with
debris and large rocks rolling down the steep hillside north of the
Trinity River. Zero percent containment was reported at an 8 p.m.
briefing.
<P>The fire was “human caused” but is still under investigation,
said Bar Complex fire information officer Tom Efird. Most of it is
now located in steep, inaccessible terrain significantly uphill of
the roadway.
<P>Law enforcement told people in Big Flat to evacuate at around 3
p.m. and highway traffic had already been stopped for several hours.
About 130 were evacuated from Big Flat and another 100 voluntarily
evacuated from Big Bar a few miles downstream.
<P>A Red Cross shelter was being set up in Salyer at the Wayside
Church, said fire information officer Bruce Palmer.
<P>The blaze started near the middle of the Pigeon Point river
section, a popular white water rafting and kayaking run. A guided
trip with 27 rafters on five boats was stranded just below the fire
because large helicopters were swooping down to the large pool above
nearby Hell Hole and other downstream rapids, sucking water up
through hoses. The rafting trip had started further upstream just
before the fire did.
<P>Rafters watched flames on the hillside flare over 50 feet high
and smoke billow and swirl wildly while they were stuck, said Travis
Robinson of Trinity River Rafting, one of the guides stranded along
the river for over three hours.
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helicopter dropped a firefighting crew down right in front of us,”
Robinson said.
<P>A different raft trip floated downstream earlier before it could
be stopped, and its passengers got the excitement of running the
rapids and watching low-hovering helicopters as they made their way
to Big Flat, Robinson said.
<P>Law enforcement and firefighters escorted vehicles and trailers
from Big Flat, including some from Bigfoot Rafting, to the fire area
to help get the larger group of rafters and their boats out.
<P>About 300 firefighters with 12 fire engines, 11 hand crews, three
helicopters, two heavy air tankers, three bulldozers and other
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<TD class=mediaCaption vAlign=top
align=right><EM><STRONG>Shaun Walker / Times-Standard
</STRONG></EM></TD></TR>
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<P>Flames engulf trees on steep terrain about a 1/3 of a
mile above the Trinity River after the Pigeon Fire
quickly spread up from the highway.<A
class=listingArticleLinkTo
href="http://northcoast101.com/nc/video_player.php?v=14"
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT color=#000000 size=2>[Watch
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<TD colSpan=3><IMG height=5
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width=1 border=0></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>were dedicated to the
rapidly spreading fire. Most were from the U.S. Forest Service, but
the California Department of Forestry and other agencies assisted.
<P>“It made a tremendous difference to have the resources nearby
already,” said Efird. All of the Bar Complex's airborne firefighting
efforts were shifted to the Pigeon Fire for the initial attack.
<P>Rafting companies already hurting some from what some say was
sensationalized and misleading media reports after a rainy spring,
typically get a surge of business on Labor Day weekend. Most are
centered in Big Flat, but were moving employees and equipment to
milder but runnable sections downstream.
<P>The fire also affected power and telephone service in the area.
<P>Highway 299 was closed from Highway 96 in Willow Creek, or
possibly Big Bar for locals, to Junction City. Caltrans expected the
closure to last well into Sunday. Travelers should check
www.dot.ca.gov/dist2, or call (800) 427-ROAD for road condition
updates. </P></TD></TR>
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