Staging on Old Stage

Aug. 8—J. Herbert Stone Nursery, the U.S. Forest Service facility at 2606 Old Stage Road in Central Point, is being use as a staging site for contract firefighters and equipment coming into the area to fight wildfires.

The site has been in use since July 30, the day after the McKinney Fire exploded in Siskiyou County, California, and lightning strikes were being investigated throughout the region.

"With the recent additions, this will augment our Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest firefighting capacity to roughly five times of normal, along with the local knowledge that these personnel bring with them, which is of great value," the Forest Service stated on its Facebook page.

"Since the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest activated the staging area at J. Herbert Stone Nursery, the Forest has hosted 12 engines, two dozers, 11 type 2 hand crews and one set of timber fallers at that location alone," the agency reported Saturday. "On Friday, five type 2 hand crews arrived to stage for assignments in support of the local and regional need."

As of Saturday, the national forest had responded to and suppressed 29 fires for a total of 5.11 acres burned, with 15 of those fires being human starts, the agency reported.