Series of EmergencyNet News "Real-Time" Reports Concerning A Record Wildfire Season in the Western United States -- 08 May to 21 Sep 2000

20/21 Sep 2000

WILDFIRE - OKLAHOMA

More than 60 Homes Destroyed in Multiple Blazes

Oklahoma City, OK -- Several fires, including the Arbuckle Complex, Oakcliff, Bristow, Calhoun, and Cement fires are described as "exhibiting extreme behavior with spotting, crowning and rapid rates of spread," according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The Arbuckle Complex fire is said to have jumped Interstate 35 and is threatening the town of Davis, Texas.

The Oakcliff fire, located five miles south of Guthrie, OK, and is burning in grass, cedar and hardwood timber fuels. Crown fire with rapid rates of spread were reported. Fifty primary structures are reported destroyed and 450 still threatened. Evacuation plans are in place for surrounding communities.

Strong winds, extremely low fuel moistures and low relative humidity are said to be contributing to fire control problems in several areas. Additional firefighting resources are said to be enroute to assist with several Oklahoma fires.

18 Sep 2000

COLORADO:

Wildfire Continues To Burn Out of Control

Fire officials said on Monday that flames from an out-of-control wildfire west of Boulder, Colorado, jumped a major road and reservoir overnight, burning 1,100 acres of pine forest and threatened about 200 homes. A spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said that there is zero containment of the blaze at the moment.

Although no buildings have been damaged in the Walker Ranch/Eldorado Canyon fire about ten miles southwest of Boulder, about 200 homes and 350 other structures were threatened and authorities have asked residents to voluntarily evacuate homes. The Boulder County sheriff's office said the fire started on Friday and police suspect it was ignited by human activity.

More than 450 firefighters from federal, state and local crews battled the blaze. Hot dry winds whipped up flames through the narrow mountain canyons over the weekend, hampering firefighting efforts in the rugged terrain.

06 Sep 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Weather And Firefighters Gain Upper Hand in Montana

Officials lifted the remaining evacuation orders in parts of southwestern Montana on Tuesday. Wildfires had forced residents of nearly 100 homes to flee the Bitterroot Valley, some as long as a month ago. Across the state Tuesday, road barriers and land-closure signs came down as millions of acres of land were reopened to the public. Similar conditions in Idaho enabled officials to reopen more than two million acres that had been closed there.

Though the weather and an army of some 11,000 firefighters seemed to be getting the upper hand on wildfires that have this year blackened 846,000 acres in Montana, the threat in the West was far from over. Eighty-one large fires are burning on 1.5 million acres in Arkansas, California, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Texas.

In Texas, a blaze west of San Antonio kept about 250 people out of their homes Tuesday. North of Houston, about 100 residents were evacuated until a 300-acre fire was contained. Crews from Georgia, Florida and South Carolina are helping battle fires burning roughly 8,000 acres of the drought-stricken state.

In Idaho, a fire that has burned 200,000 acres in the Salmon-Challis National Forest was expected to be contained by month's end. The weather has brought its own problems for firefighters. Some crews are experiencing flu-like symptoms caused by moisture, cold, smoke and hard working conditions.

03 Sep 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Weather And Firefighters Gain Upper Hand in Montana

02 Sep 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Rain Offers Help To Firefighters

In their battle against raging wildfires, fire managers aren't expecting the work to become any easier just yet as cooler temperatures and rain forecast in the northern Rockies through the weekend are giving firefighters hope.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 68 major fires were burning on 1.7 million acres nationally. In Boise on Friday, the Fire Center disputed statements by fire officials in Montana that dwindling supplies are a problem. Officials said the center has a well-stocked warehouse and is prepared to send supplies.

In northwestern Montana, two men were arrested on charges they set or tried to set five wildfires to get jobs as firefighters. A sheriff's deputy involved with the investigation said the men had lost their mining jobs because of land closures resulting from of fire danger.

01 Sep 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Rain Offers Help To Firefighters

30 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Weather Helps Firefighters For Once

Cooler temperatures, relatively light wind and forecasts of rain brought optimism to those working the Montana wildfires early Wednesday. Fire Bosses said most of the state's fires made no significant advances on Tuesday. Overnight temperatures dipped to near freezing in some areas.

On Tuesday, Governor Marc Racicot asked POTUS to declare Montana a federal disaster because of its huge wildfires. The state has exhausted its firefighting resources and a federal disaster declaration would free up more federal money. There are 31 large fires burning 674,000 acres in Montana. According to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, the biggest accounted for almost 250,000 acres after two blazes in the Bitterroot Valley burned together.

Nationally, there are 84 fires on 1.6 million acres. Idaho reported 26 large fires on nearly 745,000 acres; Wyoming, five large fires on 52,000 acres; and South Dakota one 65,000-acre blaze. So far this year, 6.2 million acres in the United States have burned.

Firefighters and equipment were pouring into Red Lodge, Montana, to begin the ground attack on a blaze that had forced 150 families from their homes a few miles south of town. The 3,500-acre "Willie" fire -- so named because Willie Nelson was headlining a music festival in Red Lodge -- was about four miles from town on Tuesday.

Across Montana, more than 11,000 firefighters are manning fire lines, including military personnel, with more than 140 aircraft providing support. Firefighters have been provided by 27 states and the countries of New Zealand, Australia and Canada...

29 Aug 2000

28 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Firestorm Conditions Reported In South Dakota

High winds were blamed for whipping up a firestorm in South Dakota's mountainous Black Hills on Sunday. The fire had swept across more than 62,000 acres, and Forest Service officials said they feared it could remain explosive.

More than ten thousand people were still fighting 23 major fires in Montana that had charred some 670,000 acres. Officials there and in Wyoming said the fire lines were quiet on Sunday. Another new blaze was sparked by a motorcycle accident late Sunday near the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park and quickly spread to 3,000 acres within a few hours. More than 100 homes between the fire's advancing edge and the town of Red Lodge were evacuated, but the blaze was spreading through the upper limbs of trees and moving too fast to bring in firefighters. Instead, five air tankers attacked the flames from the sky.

In Idaho, where more than 709,000 acres of forest and range land was burning, Governor Dirk Kempthorne signed a proclamation on Sunday extending a 30-day state of emergency for another month to keep government aid and resources flowing to the fire lines.

As was stated at the top of the report, high winds pushed a brush fire in the heart of the Black Hills National Forest, northwest of Custer, South Dakota, exploded from 30,000 acres on Saturday to an estimated 90,000 on Sunday. Firefighters were forced off that fire's north side on Saturday because the wind created firestorm conditions. Three outbuildings and a tractor were destroyed in the blaze and two homes were damaged.

The few people in the region were urged to evacuate an area of 300 square miles. Fire lines along the eastern side of the blaze were being strengthened because a cold front moving into the region was expected to bring northwesterly wind.

Crews fighting a 77,000-acre brush fire near Prosser, Washington, had its 80-mile perimeter contained late Sunday. The fire was ignited Wednesday night by a lightning strike in a remote area of the Yakama Indian Reservation and had burned 16 structures, including one home.

27 Aug 2000

BRAZIL:

Wildfires Devastate Parks

Park officials said that firefighters working overnight had managed by Saturday to largely contain a wildfire that destroyed a third of one of Brazil's major national parks. The fire, which began on Thursday, burned 50,000 acres of forested highland savanna in Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park in central Brazil. Only scattered patches of flames remain.

To the south, two fires in the Serra da Canastra National Park were brought under control on Friday after firefighters battled the flames for eight days. The fires destroyed 36,000 acres of savanna, one-fifth of the park's 179,000 acres. The blazes were the latest in a rash of fires fed by a searing dry season that have decimated Brazil's biologically important tropical savannas.

Investigators believe the fire in Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park was started by arsonists or someone illegally burning forest near a road on the park's fringe. A criminal investigation has been launched...

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Wildfire Situation Appears To Only Get Worse

A federal official said on Saturday that wildfires in southwestern Montana's Bitterroot Valley and along the Continental Divide have have burned together forming the nation's largest fire group. Elsewhere in the West, South Dakota's governor urged residents of the central and southern Black Hills to evacuate, and potential evacuation plans were ready for two small towns threatened by a blaze in the State of Washington.

The Bitterroot Valley fire and the Mussigbrod fires in the Big Hole River drainage covered an estimated 247,000 acres. E Lynn Burkett of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said: "That is the biggest fire complex in the region. It's a lot, and with a fire of that size and magnitude it will take a significant fall weather event to stop it -- like rain or snow."

But instead of rain or snow, a "red flag" alert was posted Saturday, warning Montana and surrounding states of scattered dry thunderstorms -- with lightning, gusty wind and low humidity -- through the weekend as a cold front rolled through. Firefighters on the Mussigbrod fire pulled back because of winds, and one crew had to wait out the weather in a safety zone. Aircraft operations were suspended because of dense smoke. Both the Bitterroot Valley and Mussigbrod fires were started by lightning on 31 July. Since then, the Bitterroot fire had destroyed about 70 dwellings.

The Interagency Fire Center on Saturday reported 82 fires nationally on Saturday, most of them in the West. They had spread across 1.5 million acres and more than 13,000 firefighters were assigned to battle them. Montana had 25 fires on nearly 660,000 acres,

Wind was gusting above 30 mph early Saturday in south-central Washington, as National Guardsmen joined firefighters trying to keep a 110,000-acre blaze away from two small towns. An evacuation plan had been prepared for Prosser and nearby Mabton, which has about 1,700 people.

In South Dakota, Governor Bill Janklow urged evacuations in the Black Hills after erratic winds nearly doubled the size of the Jasper forest fire to 30,000 acres.

Idaho had 26 major fires covering 700,000 acres, including the nation's biggest single fire, which had blackened 180,000 acres of the Salmon-Challis National Forest near the Montana state line.

26 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

More Troops Called In To Assist Firefighters

Photo: Courtesy of NIFC The State of Washington is calling out National Guard troops as wildfires continue to burn and firefighting resources are strained across the West. Washington Governor Gary Locke on Friday ordered 530 National Guard members to help fight a 100,000-acre blaze sweeping across parched sagebrush in the southern part of the state.

With low humidity and wind gusts of up to 35 mph in the forecast for Saturday, crews worried that the fire could jump a ridge and reach some populated areas. The blaze was sparked by lightning Wednesday and has destroyed 24 outbuildings on and off the Yakama Nation reservation. Fifty homes had to be evacuated.

More than 5.92 million acres have burned across the United States this year in what has been called the worst Western fire season in a half-century. A U.S. Army battalion from Fort Campbell, Ky., began arriving Friday for wildfire duty in Montana, which will soon enter its sixth week of catastrophic burning.

The 500 soldiers, plus support personnel, will bring the number of people fighting Montana wildfires to about 12,000. Five hundred additional soldiers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina,are expected to arrive on Monday. Click here to review a graphic of fires larger than 1,000 acres, provided by the National Interagency Fire Center

25 Aug 2000

GREECE:

Wildfires Leave Four Dead

Wildfires raged in Greece on Friday, killing four people. Authorities have declared a state of emergency in Arcadia, in the southern Greek Peloponnese region. Greek Interior Minister Vasso Papandreou early Friday said the situation was "very serious" in Arcadia, where fires were being fought on three fronts, and in the northwestern region of Epirus where two women and an elderly couple died.

Major fires were also reported in Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia and Corsica while in Kosovo Pristina was without water supplies on Thursday. Papandreou said the fires in Epirus and Arcadia were the worst among 78 blazes ravaging the country. The Greek fire brigade announced early Friday that seven firefighters had been slightly injured and a fire engine had been burned in the Mainalo mountains in Arcadia...

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Firefighters Battle Both Wildfires and Weather

Under a forecast of gusty wind, high temperatures and lightning, firefighters battling blazes that are burning nearly 600,000 acres across Montana braced for the worst on Friday. Temperatures into the 90s and 40 mph wind were expected in areas of the state where some of the 25 major fires are burning.

The National Weather Service said the hot, breezy weather could continue through the weekend in the state of Montana, as well as Idaho and Washington, providing ideal conditions for new blazes. High wind on Thursday fanned two major wildfires burning in Montana, resulting in additional damage to buildings in the Bitterroot Valley and more evacuations in that and on an 81,000-acre fire burning mostly scattered timber between Helena and Bozeman.

In the Bitterroot Valley, a blaze pushed by 30- to 50-mph wind jumped a road Thursday. Ravalli County officials said some additional buildings were burned, but no dwellings were destroyed. Nearly 70 houses and cabins have been destroyed in the area since the fires began nearly a month ago.

In Washington, a lightning-sparked brush fire grew to 35,000 acres on Thursday and threatened 50 rural homes outside the town of Mabton. About 150 Yakima County residents were evacuated. The blaze had destroyed ten outbuildings by Thursday night. The fire started Wednesday in a remote area of the Yakama Indian Reservation and spread by high wind. All but about 3,000 acres of the charred land was on the reservation.

24 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Fires Continue To Burn The West

Catastrophic wildfires continue to rage over Montana on Thursday. On Wednesday, more of the state's land was declared off-limits for recreation, with 19.6 million acres now closed -- an area roughly the size of the state of Maine. Twenty-seven large fires are burning nearly 630,000 acres in the state. Montana encompasses 93 million acres.

More than 5.73 million acres have burned across the United States so far this year -- an area about the size of New Hampshire -- in what has been called the worst fire season in 50 years. The National Interagency Fire Center said 79 large fires, almost all in the West, are now burning more than 1.4 million acres.

The worst fires are in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. They included a volatile blaze that has burned at least 75,000 acres near Townsend, Montana. The big fires in western Montana -- including the more than 274,000 acres burning around Bitterroot Valley -- were described as calm.

In Utah's Stansbury Mountains, two inmates died after being struck by lightning Wednesday while a prison work crew was fighting a fire near Grantsville. Four others were injured. They were all members of an inmate work group that routinely battles fires.

22 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Closure Of More Montana State Land Considered

The governor of Montana is said to be considering whether or not to ban the public from state grass-lands and forests in another 16 counties because of the danger from rampant wildfires. Governor Marc Racicot's decision could come as early as Tuesday and would mean closing state lands to campers, hikers and fishermen in most of the western third of the state, an area stretching from Canada to Wyoming.

Closures of federal land also appeared imminent as 30 major fires continued burning over more than 630,000 acres in the state. A third of the burnt land lay in the Bitterroot Valley of southwestern Montana. The Montana wildfires are among blazes that have consumed more than 5.5 million acres this year. In the nation on Monday, the National Interagency Fire Center said 98 fires were burning on 1.4 million acres.

Weather forecasts through the week offered little encouragement for firefighters, with temperatures warming into the 90s. There was a chance of thunderstorms in California, southern Oregon, Idaho and Montana by midweek.

In Idaho, the nation's largest wildfire continued to burn the Salmon-Challis National Forest. The fire had consumed about 159,000 acres and was about 33 percent contained. Almost 1,600 firefighters were fighting the blaze, aided by 16 helicopters and 58 fire engines.

21 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Montana Continues To Burn

According to the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho, about 30 of the most significant fires in the western U.S. have burned about 600,000 acres in Montana. More than one-third of the land is in the Bitterroot Valley.

A blaze between Helena and Bozeman remained a major challenge for firefighters on Sunday. Estimates of the size ranged 60,000 to 100,000 acres. Aerial mapping will likely provide better information on Monday. The fire started Tuesday in a grain field.

There were 98 major fires burning Sunday in Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. They had blackened a total of about 1.3 million acres.

Twenty miles south of Big Sky, Montana, and 12 miles west of Yellowstone National Park, fire crews Sunday returned to a blaze after high wind fanned flames on Saturday and made firefighters retreat. The wind also grounded helicopters and airplanes that had been dropping water and retardant. The fire, started by lightning on 11 August, triggered the evacuation of several ranches in the area.

A fire in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest grew to 29,142 acres, through expansion of the fire and better mapping. The Kootenai National Forest of northwestern Montana had about 110 fires, burning 27,000 acres.

So far, fires in Idaho's Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness have consumed more than 70,000 acres, while blazes in the Salmon-Challis National Forest had burned 156,254 acres. Most resorts along the Middle Fork and Main Salmon Rivers have been evacuated. In the Sawtooth National Forest, firefighters continued battling four major wildfires.

20 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Firefighters Continue To Battle Flames; Concerns Raised About "Increasing Winds"

Before expected windy weather could whip the flames into another dash across the Montana countryside on Saturday, firefighters raced to make as much progress as possible against a menacing wildfire. The blaze near Toston had swept across 45,000 acres in just three days.

Officials had given a 100,000-acre estimate Friday, but said on Saturday that poor visibility and the amount of smoke led them to overestimate the size of the blaze. Toston is 60 miles southeast of Helena. Cool temperatures and light rain kept it quiet on Saturday night, but a cold front was expected to arrive during the night with strong wind and no moisture.

Some 600 firefighters, including 200 National Guard troops, battled the Toston fire on Saturday. The Toston blaze started on Tuesday as a spark in a wheat field, burning 20,000 acres by Thursday, then exploded Thursday night and swept across some additional acres of rangeland and scattered timber. No houses were lost to the fire near Toston. Most other fires in Montana were relatively quiet overnight, but new evacuations were ordered near Darby, in southwestern Montana, and near Libby, in the northwest.

U.S. Army officials announced on Saturday that about 500 soldiers had been called up from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to help fight wildfires in Montana, bumping the Army's numbers on the fire lines to more than 1,600. A U.S.Marine Corps battalion from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was also expected to be joining the effort.

Twenty-seven major fires in Montana had burned more than 500,000 acres, including more than 242,000 acres in the Bitterroot Valley of southwestern Montana. They have destroyed 175 homes and other buildings since late July. They were among 94 fires burning on Saturday in Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said those fires had blackened more than 1.1 million acres. After Montana, the next major fire center was Idaho, where the 25 large fires active Saturday had blackened 421,000 acres.

19 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Retired "Fire Bosses" Urged To Help Out; Experienced Fire Managers Requested to Return to Fire Lines

With wildfires burning across 1.1 million acres in the Western U.S., Forest Service retirees are being urged to return to work in an effort to bolster crews fighting the blazes. The retirees are seen to have extensive experience in fire operations, fire management and natural resources management and their skills are much needed in one of the most severe fire seasons in decades.

Nearly 19,000 civilian and military firefighters were spread throughout the West on Friday - 14,000 of them in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. The National Interagency Fire Center reported 92 major fires burning in the country on nearly 1.1 million acres. So far this year, fires have burned 5.22 million acres, the worst fire season in at least a half-century.

In Idaho, the 147,000-acre Clear Creek fire, the nation's largest, was burning actively as fire crews labored to keep it away from a Girl Scout camp and the watershed for the city of Salmon.

In Montana, a wildfire burning southeast of Helena spread to 100,000 acres. A wildfire in Wyoming that closed the busy southern entrance to Yellowstone National Park was heading into wilderness Friday, but another fire threatened a historic lodge built by Buffalo Bill Cody near the park's east entrance.

In California, a wind-driven fire 180 miles northeast of San Francisco has burned 5,000 acres in the Plumas National Forest. No homes or other buildings were immediately threatened by the blaze.

18 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Montana Fire Erupts; Threatens Major Power Line to West Coast

A raging wildfire burning in the ranching country north of the Missouri River spread rapidly during the night, burning over ranches and threatening a major power line to the Pacific Northwest early on Friday. The fire was said to be very close to the power line feeding electricity from the Colstrip generating complex in southeastern Montana to Seattle, 750 miles to the west. The line carries 500,000 volts of electricity.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho, the blaze was among 86 fires burning 1.1 million acres in 11 Western states. Nationally, wildfires have burned about 5.1 million acres so far -- more than twice the ten-year average.

The fire threatening the power line is being fed by heavy timber and advanced five miles in two hours late Thursday and was about five miles south of U.S. Route 12, a major east-west highway. The fire started Tuesday afternoon, apparently from a spark from harvesting equipment working in a grainfield, and ran 12 miles to the south and east, burning an estimated 35,000 acres by Thursday night and causing evacuations in outlying communities.

But southwest winds turned it to the north and an emergency evacuation was under way in a wide but sparsely populated area. Emergency calls were out to the National Guard and state highway patrol for more help.

Montana had the most burning acreage in the West, followed by Idaho with 25 significant fires on 408,826 acres. Nearly 5,000 firefighters were battling the blazes in Idaho.

In northern California, a fast-moving fire has burned 1,500 acres in Plumas National Forest near the town of Storrie. Fire officials said rocky terrain and heavy smoke were making fighting the fire difficult.

15 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Wildfires Rage Across Western U.S. And Canada

Authorities said that wildfires raged across 13 western U.S. states and into western Canada, as tinder-dry conditions and high winds kept whipping up more blazes, putting the total at 82 large fires. About two-thirds of the 919,710 acres burning were in Idaho and Montana, while Wyoming and Nevada also reported large stretches of land in flames on Monday. Seventy-six large fires were burning on Sunday.

So far this year 4.8 million acres have burned in the United States, twice the average seen in the past ten years. The 20,000-plus U.S. firefighters on duty will get some help when experienced fire bosses from Australia and New Zealand are dispatched to Montana on Tuesday. Firefighting efforts have been hampered by a lack of sufficient numbers of supervisors to direct fire crews, including U.S. military personnel. In all, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico have sent 500 personnel to help fight the fires.

Most of the firefighting focus has been on Montana, where 23 large fires were burning 367,531 acres and on Idaho, where another 23 blazes were reported burning 267,858 acres.

The lightning storms that sparked havoc in Montana and Idaho have also caused problems in neighboring British Columbia where crews aided by water-dropping aircraft were fighting more than 350 fires, many in the southeastern corner of the province.

Eight blazes were reported in Wyoming with 120,460 acres on fire and Nevada had 11 fires burning about 123,310 acres. Firefighters were also battling blazes in California, Colorado, Oregon, Texas, South Dakota, Utah and Washington state.

14 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Wildfires Force Closure of Montana Forest Lands

More than six million acres of land in the state of Montana has been closed to the public, a move prompted by fires that have burned 300,000 acres, forced hundreds of evacuations and destroyed scores of homes. Nationally, more than 20,000 firefighters were battling 70 large wildfires across 992,000 acres in the hot, dry West on Wednesday. This year, 4.3 million acres have burned, about twice the 10- year average.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho is recruiting up to 80 people from New Zealand and Australia to join fire crews that already include firefighters from Canada and Mexico. It is uncertain when they will arrive and where they would be assigned.

Montana's fires are concentrated in the Bitterroot Valley, where at least 52 homes have burned and more than 970 people have had to evacuate. Montana's Governor Racicot said the closure of between six million and eight million acres of state, private, tribal and federal land was necessary to prevent additional fires and to reduce the chance of people being trapped. Hiking, fishing and all other activities on state land are forbidden beginning Friday unless a permit is obtained. Only homeowners who must cross the lands to reach their homes are exempt.

In Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park, officials said they hoped to have a 5,000-acre fire fully contained by Friday.

In Utah, fire officials said higher humidity was helping them in their battle against 10 major fires covering more than 55,000 acres. But Oregon has joined Washington state in declaring a state of emergency, freeing National Guard troops to be called up for firefighting duty.

Winds of 25 mph fanned the flames of a 3,000-acre fire in Klickitat County, Washington, while about 160 miles to the north, a fire on the Colville Indian reservation near the Grand Coulee Dam burned 7,000 acres.

In Idaho, a 26,700 acre blaze north of McCall threatened to cross the Salmon River.

13 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Exhausted Firefighters Struggle To Contain Blazes

As new lighting-sparked blazes helped to stretch resources to the limit, weary firefighters struggled to contain a number of raging wildfires across the U.S. West on Saturday. Fire officials said 69 large fires were now burning in 11 Western states, in the worst fire season in half a century.

With dry weather and high winds helping to stoke some of the blazes, firefighters have not yet been able to gain the upper hand. The worst fires remained in Montana and Idaho, where more blazes were ignited by an estimated 2,200 lighting strikes in the past three days. The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise said more than 900,000 acres were burning around the country. So far the total area burned this year has hit about 4.4 million acres. Dry, hot conditions and gusty winds this week have offered little relief to exhausted fire crews.

12 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Firefighter Killed In Wyoming Battling Wildfire

One firefighter was killed and another was injured when a wind-fueled wildfire engulfed a fire truck on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming on Friday. The firefighters were the only ones battling a portion of fires in the Owl Creek Mountains which have burned about 38,000 acres in the sparsely populated central Wyoming. Flames roared over their fire engine. The injured firefighter was hospitalized for burns and smoke inhalation and was listed in stable condition. A multi-agency team including the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs were investigating the death. Five other firefighters have died while working forest fires this year -- one each from Arizona, Florida and South Dakota, and two from Texas.

In Idaho, where flames have burned more than 423,280 acres, an air tanker working a 2,000-acre blaze went down in the Salmon River on Friday. The pilot did not suffer any injuries.

Lightning started more fires across the region on Thursday and Friday. The Forest Service said there were 2,200 known lightning strikes in the southwestern area of Montana and in neighboring Idaho. In northwestern Montana, the Kootenai National Forest had 70 new fires sparked by lightning.Six lightning-sparked fires on Friday turned into two larger blazes totaling 5,000 acres in Washington's Klickitat County, but firefighters kept the flames from spreading to a handful of remote homes.

In Colorado, the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies banned open campfires, charcoal fires, fireworks, outside smoking and the use of equipment that could produce sparks on all federal land.

In Montana, fires have burned over 187,210 acres and nearly 2,000 residences in the popular Bitterroot Valley have been evacuated. More than 50 dwellings have been destroyed. About 1,600 firefighters and support personnel are battling the three major fire complexes in forests surrounding Hamilton, Darby and Sula. Other fires in Montana include two in the Boulder Hill area, south of Helena, that have forced hundreds of evacuations. Scores of small, new fires were reported Friday as a result of lightning strikes from passing thunderstorms the night before.

Firefighters from throughout the United and Canada have joined efforts in the West. Military troops are on fire duty, and retired fire managers have been asked to return. Seventy-nine firefighters from Australia and New Zealand were to join Idaho crews this weekend.

Fire managers in New Mexico and Oregon reported all major fires contained on Friday. In California, the 11,734-acre Pechanga Indian reservation fire was contained late Thursday.

11 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES

Wildfires Slow Somewhat

Choked by their own smoke and cooler temperatures, the devastating forest fires in southwestern Montana's Bitterroot Valley have reportedly slowed somewhat. Forest officials said the fires made only moderate advances on Thursday, though there was an order for 50 additional evacuations. Nearly 1,000 people have left their homes and authorities say more than 50 dwellings have been destroyed.

South of Helena, two fires burning near Boulder were slowed by high humidity and rain after knocking out two major power lines that deliver electricity to the Pacific Northwest. Repair crews were held back by the flames.

Elsewhere in the state, a 5,000-acre fire 40 miles east of Missoula was threatening Garnet, a ghost town which attracts about 20,000 visitors a year. And a blaze near Wisdom prompted authorities to recommended evacuating about 30 homes.

Around the West, firefighters made progress in Nevada, though fire officials said a 12,000-acre blaze was growing with only 80 firefighters on hand and a 7,500-acre fire had a lone person keeping an eye on it. There were 11 new lightning-caused fires reported in southern Washington on Thursday.

In Colorado, firefighters took advantage of high humidity and rain that calmed a fire burning on 5,200 acres at Mesa Verde National Park. In northwest Wyoming, there was good news outside Jackson, the fire there was burning into an old burn area where it would be easier to fight.

10 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Little Progress Made In Wildfires

Wildfires sweeping across Montana's Bitterroot Valley on Monday destroyed dozens of buildings. Authorities are now warning that winter might be the only cure to the worst fire season in decades. The U.S. Forest Service said on Monday that it was highly likely that it was going to ask the military for more help in fighting the blazes.

More than 20,000 civilian and military firefighters managed to contain 60 fires in the past week, but fires were igniting just as fast. More than four million acres have burned in the United States this year, far more by this time of the year than in 1988, when parts of Yellowstone National Park went up in smoke. This season has seen devastating fires in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, California, Idaho, Washington and now Montana. A Forest Service official said there are 64 special fire-management teams nationwide, and "this is the first time in history they've all been out."

Twenty-one large fires were burning in the northern Rockies, 20 of them in Montana. Some fires were not being actively fought for lack of fire crews and managers. The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, will dispatch a team this week to begin training another battalion of troops at Fort Hood, Texas, for use on fire lines in the West. U.S. Marine crews from Camp Pendleton, California, are also helping.

The wildfire at Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado moved past cliff dwellings Monday and headed toward a research center. Firefighters caught got a little break Monday afternoon when a rain storm swept over the area...

08 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Little Progress Made In Wildfires

07 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Firefighters Fight Hard, But Lose Some Ground

The National Fire Information Center in Idaho reported that there were more than 60 major fires burning nearly one million acres in 11 Western states early Monday. Firefighters made headway against blazes in California and Utah over the weekend, but the situation along the Idaho-Montana line grew steadily worse.

Scores of evacuations were ordered in the Bitterroot Valley on Sunday evening as wind blew flames across a highway. A camp for firefighters in Sula had to be moved. Steve Frye, commander of the firefighting effort in the area, called the fire activity "unprecedented in this valley. Containment is a low, distant, third priority behind protecting lives and buildings."

Frye told a meeting of about 200 residents that "these aren't the kinds of fires we're going to run in front of and stop." He said there was little doubt homes and buildings would be destroyed. The biggest fires in the Bitterroot were burning nearly 70,000 acres and 1,200 firefighters were on the scene. State officials said more than 850 houses and other buildings were threatened.

The forecasts offered little hope of relief from the hot, dry weather baking parts of the West. In Idaho, a huge fire made a major run on Sunday and fire crews were pulled back for their own safety. The fire has already burned more than 103,000 acres.

In southwestern Colorado, the latest Mesa Verde fire spread across 5,000 acres late Sunday. Firefighters had no estimate of when they would have it under control.

06 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Wildfires Continue To Rage

Dozens of blazes that continue to burn have made Montana a leading hot spot on the West's fire map. A spokeswoman at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said: "The Northern Rockies area is the hottest place in the country at the moment, and it's mostly Montana."

Across the West on Saturday, about 70 large fires were burning on more than 747,100 acres. The biggest, in Idaho, had charred at least 102,000 acres near the Montana border. Montana's 16 largest fires had burned about 135,000 acres by Saturday, and smaller fires had blackened thousands more.

More than 300 homes have been evacuated in southwestern Montana's Bitterroot Valley, where more than 54,000 acres of the national forest have burned. And officials in the Hamilton area warned on Saturday that more than 300 additional evacuations could be necessary. North of Missoula, 20 firefighters were struggling to contain one of the state's smaller fires, a 6,000-acre blaze threatening 13 homes on the Flathead reservation.

Elsewhere in the West, a blaze 15 miles east of Jackson, Wyoming, threatened several homes and cabins, but requests for more firefighters and planes to drop retardant were denied because of demand elsewhere.

In California, a 73,000-acre blaze that has raged near Sequoia National Forest was 80 percent contained on Saturday, freeing up firefighters and equipment to be diverted to other locations. Kern County, CA and U.S. Forest Service officials tell EmergencyNet News via news release that the "King Fire" in the Sequoia National Forest has grown from 1,800 to 2,500 acres in the past 24 hours and that 1,100 personnel have been deployed to fight that blaze. Click here to view a map of major fire incidents from the National Fire Information Center

05 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

New Fire Threatens National Park ; Reinforcements Arrive

Mesa Verde National Park was closed to visitors on Friday evening and employees were being evacuated because of a 1,500-acre wildfire threatening the nation's largest archaeological preserve. The closure came just 12 hours after the park was reopened following a 23,000-acre wildfire that burned for ten days.

The new wildfire started on Ute Mountain Ute Reservation and crossed into the southwest corner of the park on Friday night. The fire had been 15 percent contained by Friday morning, but flames jumped the fire lines and was considered uncontained by Friday evening.

Even as word came that beleaguered crews battling Western wildfires would get reinforcements from Canadian firefighters and U.S. Army troops, Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne said it could be fall before some of the blazes are controlled. Idaho is where the nation's largest fire has blackened 102,000 acres. The Clear Creek Fire in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, near the Montana border, is only one of more than 62,000 wildfires reported across the nation.

The blazes, mostly in the West, have scorched 3.8 million acres. On Saturday, about 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton, California, were scheduled to begin helping crews fighting the Salmon-Challis National Forest.

The U.S. Forest Service announced Friday that 200 Canadian firefighters and 500 additional Army troops will reinforce the beleaguered crews battling the blazes. Most of the Canadians will be assigned to Montana while the second battalion of Army troops from Fort Hood, Texas, will undergo firefighting training, and join 500 Army troops and 500 Marines already assigned to fires in Idaho.

According to the National Fire Information Center, some 70 large fires were burning early Saturday across more than 747,110 acres of the West. In Montana, 15 major fires were burning 100,000 acres. Hundreds of homes were evacuated in the Bitterroot Valley...

04 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Fires Continue To Grow

Photo: Courtesy of BBC Scores of wildfires in the Western United States continue to beleaguer firefighters. In Montana, the situation in the Bitterroot Valley grew worse. In some areas, firefighters have come off the fire lines.

Nearly 62,000 wildfires have been reported across the nation this year, scorching nearly 3.8 million acres. There were 60 large fires burning Thursday across more than 650,000 acres of the West. The forecast on Friday called for more dry and hot conditions, with the potential for lightning-packed thunderstorms.

Nearly 300 families have been forced out of their homes in the Bitterroot Valley, a stretch of land in southwestern Montana along the Idaho line. The Blodgett Trailhead fire northwest of Hamilton grew to 1,700 acres and there were additional evacuations Thursday.

Farther south, near Jackson, Wyoming, a brief rainfall slowed a 3,000-acre wildfire on Thursday in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

In Idaho, 560 soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, wrapped up their firefighter training and headed to the fire lines. They were expected to help battle the Burgdorf Junction fire in central Idaho, which ballooned to 17,000 acres Thursday. Eleven people had to be rescued by air.

Outside Reno, crews contained a fire that burned six homes even as other lightning-sparked blazes flared up across northern Nevada -- some burning virtually unchecked.

Elsewhere, firefighters across Utah battled nearly 71,000 acres of wildfires -- including more than 57,000 acres in the Fishlake National Forest.

03 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

New Wildfires Pop Up; Foreign Firefighting Resources May be Called

New wildfires in the Western United States forced hundreds of evacuations on Wednesday. Nearly 50 large fires were burning early Thursday across more than 700,000 acres in Texas and the West. Nearly 3.6 million acres have burned in the U.S. this season, the most since at least the late 1980s.

The fires have stretched resources so thin that federal officials are considering bringing in crews from Mexico and technical experts from Australia. The government is spending $15 million a day to support 20,000 civilian and military firefighters from 46 states and Canada. Some are working 36-hour shifts -- or longer. Officials said that current Western weather patterns -- dry and hot with the potential for lightning -- are ideal for fires. Forecasters say the kind of weather needed to change the conditions may not occur in the West until October.

Late on Wednesday, fires forced people out of more than 300 homes south of Helena, Montana, and in the Bitterroot Valley, in southwestern Montana along the Idaho line.

More bad news came from California: Four firefighters were burned Wednesday as they battled one of several blazes that have blackened some 83,000 acres of timber and brush. Two of the injured were in serious condition and the others were in fair condition. California crews did make progress against some blazes, though a fire that began on the Pachenga Indian reservation southeast of Temecula grew to 5,200 acres.

Fire crews in eastern Idaho got a brief respite Wednesday as helicopters arrived to fight a complex of 11 fires burning nearly 200,000 acres of steep rugged terrain. Crews managed to stop the flames threatening houses near the southeastern Idaho resort community of Lava Hot Springs, but the fire wasn't fully contained.

Fires have burned more than 20,000 acres in Wyoming in the past week. In the state's northwest corner, near Jackson, a 2,000-acre fire forced 200 people to evacuate...Click here for a NIFC Wildland fire map

02 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Weather Helps Firefighters Battling Sierra Nevada Blaze

Rain assisted firefighters who began to make progress against a persistent Sierra Nevada wildfire, but scores of lightning strikes elsewhere ignited more blazes across already scorched Western states. According to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, 42 large fires were burning close to 660,000 acres in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

In California's Sequoia National Forest, firefighters aided by rain increased the containment level of a 67,000-acre blaze -- one of the region's largest and most destructive -- from 15 percent to 40 percent. The fire, which has been burning since 22 July, destroyed seven homes over the weekend in the isolated community of Kennedy Meadows, about 35 miles northwest of Ridgecrest.

The weather didn't help everywhere. Most of the thunderstorms Tuesday provided no relief, and hot, dry conditions were expected to continue across most of the region for the next three or four days. It wasn't immediately clear how many new fires lightning triggered across the West, but the fire center reported that more than 100 small fires in Montana's Bitterroot National Forest were ignited just on Tuesday. Other lightning-caused fires were reported near the Sierra Nevada fire and in Utah...

01 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Weather Helps Firefighters Battling Sierra Nevada Blaze

31 July 2000

N E W S R E L E A S E
OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301

No. 481-00
(703) 695-0192 (media)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 31, 2000 - 14:40CDT/15:40EDT
(703) 697-5737 (public/industry)

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ADDS 1,000 SOLDIERS, MARINES TO FIGHT WILDLAND WILDFIRES

More than 1,000 soldiers and Marines are being added to the Department of Defense mission to augment federal and local firefighters and law enforcement officials in several western states. This brings the total of active duty military and National Guard soldiers and airmen to more than 1,300.

About 500 soldiers from the Army's 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery, at Fort Hood, Texas, are expected to deploy Tuesday to Boise, Idaho, to begin final preparation enroute to the Burgdorf Junction Fire on the Payette National Forest near McCall, Idaho.

Another 500 Marines from 3d Battalion, 11th Marines, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. have been identified and will begin preparations and are expected to be in Boise by Friday.

The soldiers and Marines will have received the same training as all crews who work on a fire line: classroom orientation followed by hands-on field training.

Federal firefighting officials at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise have formally requested assistance from the Department of Defense during one of the worst wildfire seasons in a decade.

NIFC has instituted a "Preparedness Level 5" indicating that all federal firefighting resources are fully committed.

Story continues: http://www.defenselink.mil

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Wildfire Destroys Tiny California Town

As a 63,270-acre wildfire continued its weeklong rampage through the Sierra Nevada, a tiny mountain town went up in flames and eight homes were destroyed. The blaze that roared through Sequoia National Forest was only 15 percent contained late Sunday, and firefighters estimated it would take two weeks to surround.

More than 1,500 firefighters set backfires, sprayed foam and cut brush as they battled the spreading blaze that began on 22 July. Eight firefighters have been injured. A fleet of 17 helicopters and air tankers, 13 bulldozers and 15 water tenders fought the blaze on Sunday. The cause of the fire was undetermined. On Saturday, the fire took out houses and trailers in Pine Creek, part of a more broadly scattered community known as Kennedy Meadows, about 120 miles north of Los Angeles. It earlier burned eight outbuildings and lodges.

It was one of 50 fires burning about 500,000 acres nationwide. In the west, flames scorched Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Two smaller fires also burned in California: one on the Pechanga Indian Reservation in the Cleveland National Forest to the south, and another in Los Padres National Forest, where three firefighters have been injured. Farther east, a fire triggered by lightning on Wednesday has burned about 65,000 acres about 60 miles northeast of Elko, Nevada.

In Montana, fires charred 50,000 acres in Custer National Forest and threatened homes in the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. A fire near Helena had blackened nearly 23,000 acres and was still burning out of control.

30 July 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES

Wildfire Update

Some residents in the California mountain village of Kennedy Meadows left their homes on Saturday as smoke and flames from a 49,707-acre blaze marched closer toward them. Flames burned pine forest and brush just east of Sequoia National Forest, destroying two outbuildings and an abandoned Boy Scout lodge.

More than 1,300 firefighters were aided by nine helicopters, five air tankers, four bulldozers and more than 50 fire engines. Eight firefighters have been injured since the fire began on 22 July, including one who was treated for first- and second-degree burns to one arm. The cause of the blaze had not been determined.

Firefighters also spent their weekend on the fire lines elsewhere across the West in what has become the nation's worst fire season since 1996. Firefighters had contained only ten percent of the mammoth blaze in the rugged Sierra Nevada and said they would be unable to surround it until about 10 August. No homes had burned.

Farther south, a fire that began Saturday afternoon consumed 1,400 acres of heavy brush, some of it more than a century old, on the Pechanga Indian Reservation in the Cleveland National Forest. The fire threatened 20 to 50 cabins at the Woodchuck Campground, which was evacuated. About 500 firefighters were working in 100-degree (F) heat, aided by bulldozers, air tankers and helicopters.

Elsewhere in the West, crews fighting a huge blaze in Idaho placed protective wrapping on historic buildings in the Salmon-Challis National Forest. That fire near the Montana state line was moving about a mile a day and has burned 60,000 acres. Another Idaho fire, which burned onto the grounds of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, was contained at 30,000 acres.

An enormous range fire in northeastern Nevada raged largely unchecked on Saturday, having burned 61,995 acres, and officials warned of gusty wind and triple-digit temperatures.

Fire crews in Utah worked on Saturday to put out dozens of wildfires that had blackened about 35,000 acres. The 1,000-acre blaze was burning about about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Two large fires in eastern Washington were virtually contained. One, a 9,500-acre fire in Okanogan County, had destroyed 37 homes since last weekend. Slightly cooler, wetter weather on Saturday aided Colorado fire crews who were able to fully contain a blaze that burned 23,600 acres at Mesa Verde National Park.

Calmer wind early Saturday allowed firefighters to return to the lines of an 8,000-acre blaze on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in eastern Arizona. Gusty wind on Friday swept flames through one firefighters' camp.

28 July 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES

Fires Continue To Burn In Western U.S.; Firefighting Resources Getting Stretched to the Limit

As investigators confirmed one blaze was started by discarded charcoal briquettes from a home barbecue, two wildfires east of Montana's capital city of Helena grew to about 24,000 acres Thursday. The fires have driven more than 300 families from their homes and destroyed 36 buildings, including nine houses and 27 outbuildings.

The fire on the east side of the Canyon Ferry Lake burned farther northeast into the Big Belt Mountains on Wednesday night, prompting residents of the mountain community of York to evacuate. Officials think that both fires may have been man-caused.

The growing firefighting force surpassed 1,000 on Thursday. They were supported by seven helicopters, two air tankers, 36 engines and 15 volunteer fire department engines. Fire bosses have requested an additional 200 National Guard members to undergo basic firefighting training. They will be deployed against the fires as 20-member hand crews. At the moment, 150 Guardsmen and Reservists were already at work on security, a medical camp and helicopter water drops.

In Colorado, about 1,000 firefighters were containing flames in the charred landscape of Mesa Verde National Park. With lines built around 70 percent of the 23,000-acre fire, firefighters hoped to fully contain the fire by the weekend so they could release crews to battle other blazes in the West.

Firefighters across Utah struggled to contain more than 11,000 acres of fire on Thursday while monitoring another 10,000 acres that already burned to ensure fires don't re-ignite. The largest fire began Wednesday morning on Stansbury Island, in the Great Salt Lake, and had burned about 5,100 acres by early Thursday.

In Washington state, a wildfire in Klickitat County grew to 4,800 acres on Thursday, destroying three structures and threatening as many as 14 homes. A 9,500-acre fire that burned 33 homes in northcentral Washington was reported 95 percent contained.

In Arizona, firefighters battled several blazes, the largest of which raced across 3,600 acres of brush on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation about 150 miles northeast of Phoenix.

N E W S R E L E A S E
= OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
= WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301

No. 478-00
(703) 695-0192 (media)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 28, 2000
(703) 697-5737 (public/industry)

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE COMMITS SOLDIERS, AIRMEN, ASSETS FOR WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION, PUBLIC SAFETY

More than 300 Army, National Guard and Air Force Reserve soldiers and airmen have been mustered with aviation and ground equipment to help federal and local firefighters and law enforcement officials in several western states to suppress fires and support public safety.

The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve are providing eight C-130 aircrews and aircraft, equipped with the modular airborne firefighting system. Units include the Air Guard's 153rd Airlift Wing, Cheyenne, Wyo.; 145th Airlift Wing, Charlotte, N.C.; 146th Airlift Wing, Channel Islands, Calif. and the Air Reserve's 302nd Airlift Wing, Colorado Springs, Colo.

On the ground, the Army has deployed five active duty soldiers to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho to serve as a U.S. Defense Liaison Team.

The National Guard serving on state active duty, is providing personnel and assets in four states.

The Arizona National Guard is providing two soldiers and armories for staging bases in Coconing and Yavapai counties, and six soldiers and one UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter with a 200-gal. water bucket for operations near Safford.

In Montana in Lewis and Clark counties, 113 Army and Air Guardsmen are providing law enforcement support for traffic control, aviation support and firefighters. One UH-60 and two UH-1 Huey helicopters with water buckets, three 2 1/2-ton trucks, three commercial utility cargo vehicles, two "Humvees" and one heavy duty pick-up truck

The Colorado Guard is providing 29 soldiers in Montezuma County for transportation support for firefighters and three five-ton trucks, seven 2 1/2 - ton trucks, one five-ton wrecker, and two "Humvee" ambulances.

In Utah, Guard officials are providing a barracks as a staging site for firefighters.

26 Aug 2000

WESTERN UNITED STATES:

Firefighters Get Some Help From Weather

Fire crews struggling to control a blaze that has burned about 33 percent of Mesa Verde National Park headed back to work on Wednesday after receiving some much-needed help from the weather. Favorable winds followed by light rain helped slow the 22,600-acre fire to a crawl on Tuesday. A thunderstorm with wind gusts of up to 35 mph tested lines cut by some 700 firefighters. Lightning sparked the blaze in the park last Thursday, forcing the evacuation of visitors and employees.

In other related news, tens of thousands of acres are burning in other wildfires across the West, including a 9,300-acre lightning-sparked fire in northeastern Washington state that has burned more than 30 structures. In Montana, a pair of wildfires totaling 13,000 acres were burning near Canyon Ferry Lake east of Helena. The larger blaze has burned 9,400 acres and forced the evacuations of dozens of families from scattered ranches.

25 July 2000

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK, CO:

Instant Update - 25 July 2000 - 09:00CDT

Fire crews are battling a 22,000-acre wildfire that has burned a quarter of the nation's largest archaeological preserve. The fire's advance was slowed on Monday when it ran into two areas denuded by earlier blazes. Afternoon cloud cover, a brief rain and a shift in the wind also helped. But with dry heat still in the forecast, firefighters at the southwestern Colorado park braced for more trouble on Tuesday...

24 July 2000 - Instant Update

Fire Grows Rapidly...

Hundreds of firefighters struggled against hot weather and rough terrain as they battled a fierce, fickle wildfire raging through the nation's largest archaeological preserve. The fire in Mesa Verde National Park nearly tripled in size in 24 hours, burning 17,000 acres by Sunday night. The blaze sent ash raining down on surrounding towns and a plume of smoke towering 40,000 feet into the sky. The effort to contain the blaze was hampered by rough terrain as flames ripped over mesas and into canyons that are virtually inaccessible to firefighters...

Mesa Verde (Bircher) Fire: http://www.steamboatnews.com/wildfire1.htm

National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov

Mesa Verde National Park: http://www.nps.gov/meve

Death Valley National Park: http://www.nps.gov/deva

23 July 2000

COLORADO:

Wildfire Doubles In Size

A wildfire spreading quickly across tinder-dry mesas and canyons in Mesa Verde National Park has forced fire officials to call in reinforcements to battle the 3,500-acre blaze that doubled in size on Friday. About 350 firefighters, aided by water-dropping bombers, were fighting flames in rugged, steep terrain on the eastern boundary of the park, about 260 miles southwest of Denver.

The fire, apparently caused by lightning, broke out on the eastern boundary of the 52,000-acre park on Thursday. It raced through juniper, pinon and oak brush, burning within a mile of the single road through the area...

08 July 2000

ALASKA:

Huge Wildfires In Alaska

State officials said on Friday that huge wildfires burning in the parched spruce forests of interior Alaska prompted an advisory about unhealthy air in Fairbanks. The advisory, which recommends that children, the elderly and people with respiratory problems stay indoors, is likely to remain in effect for days, and perhaps weeks.

The largest fire, according to officials managing the Alaska wildfires, is the lightning-sparked 153,700-acre Zitziana blaze burning near Manley, a village 90 miles west of Fairbanks. Another large blaze is the 101,000-acre Bering Creek fire southwest of Tanana, a village 135 miles northwest of Fairbanks. That was also sparked by lightning.

The 28,600-acre Bearpaw Mountain fire, burning south of Fairbanks near the northern boundary of Denali National Park, has expanded because of high winds. And the 2,800-acre Clear fire near Anderson, about 75 miles south of Fairbanks, has been contained.

Those four fires were the only ones among 33 burning in Alaska that were manned by firefighters. The firefighters were deployed to protect cabins and other private property. As of Friday, 311 wildfires had burned nearly 584,000 acres in Alaska this year.

05 July 2000

EUROPE:

Heat Wave Causes Problems In Southern Europe

In the grip of a heat wave that has driven temperatures as high as 120 degrees (F), hundreds of wildfires burned across southern Europe on Tuesday. In the Balkans, very high temperatures accompanied the worst drought to strike the region in 50 years.

Ambulances patrolled the streets in southern Romania cities to pick up people who fell in distress in 106-degree (F) heat. Radio and television stations urged old people and children to stay inside. About 100 fires were burning Tuesday in Romania, despite successful efforts by firefighters to put out 98 other fires. Nobody was injured in the Romanian fires, but damage was said to be "considerable," in part because a lack of water impeded firefighters' efforts.

In Italy, hot, dry winds blowing across the southern Gargano region fanned flames that consumed hundreds of acres of forest despite repeated passes by fire- fighting planes dumping water. Italy's state-run RAI television reported Monday that temperatures on the island of Sardinia approached 120 degrees (F). Italian meteorologists said they expect the high temperatures to continue at least through Saturday...

29 June 2000

STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Firefighters Grab Handle On Wildfire Near Hanford

A wildfire that scorched nearly half the Hanford nuclear reservation and burned within two miles of some of the most lethal nuclear waste on Earth, came under a degree of control on Friday as firefighters got a break in the weather. The fire has blackened 190,000 acres and destroyed more than 70 buildings, including 20 homes. The blaze has injured 15 people, one seriously.

Light winds early Friday were reportedly pushing embers back onto areas that had already burned. The fire, which was started Tuesday by a fatal car crash, is the worst in the history of Hanford, scorching 45 percent of its 560 square miles. About 30,000 scorched acres and all the burned homes are outside the reservation. No nuclear facility is threatened by fire.

The fire did burn across three old radioactive waste disposal sites -- a trench and two dried up ponds -- but federal and state officials said initial surveys showed no elevated radiation levels. It also burned near some excavated drums containing uranium wastes, but firefighters stopped that advance. The most lethal waste is reportedly in 177 storage tanks buried six feet underground...

29 June 2000

STATE OF WASHINGTON

Massive Wildfire Burns Near Hanford

At least 25 homes have been destroyed and thousands of people were urged to evacuate after a huge wild-fire roared across the Hanford nuclear reservation. By early Thursday, the blaze was burning out of control in the arid sagebrush country of southern Washington.

The fire exploded in size late Wednesday, doubling up to 100,000 acres. Flames briefly threatened a Hanford building holding radioactive waste. It later jumped the Yakima River and began burning homes near Benton City, about ten miles west of Richland.

There were no confirmed reports of injuries from the second wildfire this year to threaten one of the nation's premier nuclear facilities. Authorities asked 7,000 people to leave the communities of West Richland and Benton City.

The Red Cross set up shelters in nearby Kennewick and Washington Governor Gary Locke declared a state of emergency in Benton County, activating the National Guard to assist in the evacuations.

The flames, fueled by 100-degree temperatures and winds gusting to 30 mph, overwhelmed about 350 firefighters on Wednesday. About 600 firefighters from across the region were expected to arrive soon, aided by airplanes and helicopters from the Federal Emergency Management Agency...

21 June 2000

California Braces for Possible Wildfire Disaster

By Jerry Smith, Vinelines Managing Editor

FIRE SEASON 2000

The volatile Wildland/Urban Interface in California, June 17, 2000:

Winds, heat and prolonged dry weather have set the stage for yet another disastrous wildfire season in California. Forecasters are warning, it won't be long before the newspaper headlines read; "The hillsides of California are set a blaze by mother nature's Santa Ana winds and or domestic terrorist acts of arson."

A predisposed criminal predator [may be] calculating the time and place to strike and torch a populated area. You know the volatile areas where the wild lands of various mountain ranges meets the explosive growth communities of population, the vulnerable front country. It could be the expensive upscale, glitzy neighborhoods of Laguna Beach or the fancy hillside communities north of San Francisco on fire....

(Article continues in its entirety in ERRI EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Tuesday, June 20, 2000-Vol. 4, No. 172) The author is the Moderator of the Emergency Grapevine at: http://www.emergencygrapevine.com/index.asp

20 June 2000

COLORADO:

Colorado Wildfires Contained

Fifty-one homes were destroyed in what became known as the Hi Meadow blaze in the foothills 35 miles southwest of Denver. The blaze, one of two that raged in Colorado over the past week, burned 10,800 acres. It was said to be 95 percent contained late Monday and authorities hoped to have it completely corralled by Tuesday evening.

There was even better news 90 miles away, east of Rocky Mountain National Park. The Bobcat Gulch fire, which destroyed 22 structures and burned 10,600 acres, was declared 100 percent contained....

15 June 2000

COLORADO

Lead Focus

Wildfires Still Burning Out Of Control

Hoping to hold the lines until a weather front brings cooler, moister air, firefighters on Wednesday struggled to contain two wildfires. According to the National Weather Service, the forecast did not look favorable for firefighters because a day of hot and dry winds was predicted for Thursday. Winds gusted to 60 mph at both fire sites overnight. Gusts were forecast to peak at greater than 50 mph today.

More than 1,100 firefighters are battling the fires that have destroyed nearly 50 structures, including at least 36 homes. The fires have burned more than 13,000 acres in the Rocky Mountain foothills northeast and southwest of Denver. Some of the 500 firefighters near the park worked through the night trying to protect about 200 homes. Firefighters at the other blaze, 35 miles southwest of Denver, were pulled off the lines to prepare for the worst.

The lightening-sparked blaze near Bailey has burned 6,700 acres and destroyed 36 homes scattered through subdivisions built into the steep mountainsides. It was only ten percent contained on Wednesday night, disappointing fire managers, who had hoped for 25 percent containment. More than 800 people have been evacuated, not including residents of three rural communities that were evacuated on Wednesday night.

The fire near Drake, Colorado, in the tree-lined canyons east of the national park, had burned 6,700 acres and at least 12 buildings by Wednesday night. The blaze was started by a campfire.

Elsewhere in the nation, a 500-acre fire in the Gila National Forest of New Mexico caused a power failure in Tucson, Arizona, 150 miles to the southwest. Tucson Power Company lines were near flames and the company had to reroute power through other lines. Firefighters gained ground against two other fires that had burned 1,600 acres in New Mexico, while in Northern California, a fire pushed by gusty wind and triple-digit temperatures had burned through 2,500 acres on hillsides in Napa Valley...

14 June 2000

COLORADO:

Wildifres Burn More Than 30 Structures

The Colorado wildfire continues to burn hundreds of acres and is being fueled by hot temperatures and gusty winds. So far, 29 homes have been destroyed by the two blazes that have forced some 800 people out of their homes and burned nearly 10,000 acres and more than 30 structures since Monday.

One fire ("Bobcat Gulch"-Larimer County, CO) that began near Bailey and has burned 6,640 acres in the parched foothills 35 miles southwest of Denver. Three firefighters have suffered minor burns in the blaze. The fire was expected to flare up again Wednesday and officials say the total firefighting force may reach more than 800 soon. Lightning is suspected as the cause.

Ninety miles away, in the tree-lined canyons east of Rocky Mountain National Park, high winds were fanning a nearly 5,000-acre blaze that has burned at least five structures. Firefighters there were concentrating on protecting about 250 homes amid stands of ponderosa pine and fir trees. Some 420 people had been forced out of their homes by nightfall Tuesday.

There was more bad news early Wednesday: Heavy demand by crews battling the Colorado fires have exhausted the U.S. Forest Service's regional supply of fire retardant for now. On Tuesday, the agency resorted to filling 2,000-gallon airplane tanks with water -- not nearly as effective at stopping wildfires as the retardant. A Federal Forest Service spokesperson told EmergencyNet News this afternoon that retardant supplies had been replenished.

Colorado Governor Bill Owens declared an emergency, making three counties eligible for state money and putting the National Guard on alert to assist fire crews...

13 June 2000

COLORADO

Wildfires Burn In Colorado

A fire is raging out of control in the pine-covered Colorado foothills and has forced hundreds of people to flee their homes. The blaze was being driven by wind and was feeding on tinderbox conditions. The largest fire was burning near Bailey, about 35 miles southwest of Denver.

The Hi Meadow fire covered some 3,500 acres on Tuesday. It exploded in just a few hours Monday as winds of more than 20 mph pushed flames from tree top to tree top. Firefighters were ordered to protect buildings first and think about containment second. No injuries were reported. North of Denver, a second fire near a subdivision in the mountains west of Loveland had burned at least two homes and threatened as many as 200 others.

With much of the nation facing drought conditions and the heart of the fire season ahead, the Colorado fires were the most damaging of those burning across a number of Western states, including Arizona, California, New Mexico and Utah. The nation is seeing the worst start of a fire season since 1996.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho said on Monday that the fire season began more than a month ago with blazes engulfing areas of Florida and the Southwest, most notably in Los Alamos, New Mexico. By Monday, some 44,300 fires covering more than 1.2 million acres had been recorded nationwide.

About 300 firefighters were at work on the Colorado fires and another 200 were expected to arrive on Tuesday. The number of burned homes near Bailey was expected to rise.

30 May 2000

NEW MEXICO:

More Wildfires Reported In New Mexico

A fast-moving wildfire in the Santa Fe National Forest forced the evacuation of nearby residents on Monday. The latest blaze, dubbed the Viveash fire, has burned between 1,000 and 2,000 acres about seven miles northeast of the town of Pecos. No structures have been lost and no injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire was being investigated.

Residents in Pecos Canyon were evacuated from their homes about 30 miles southeast of Santa Fe. Officials didn't know exactly how many people were involved. Dry conditions, wind gusts and the rough terrain of the canyon were said to be pushing the fire out of control. Mostly sunny was forecast for Tuesday, with temperatures in the 90s.

Elsewhere on Monday, fire crews contained a 10-acre fire that broke out in dry forest just northeast of Ruidoso, about 110 miles northeast of Las Cruces. The cause of the fire was not known. At the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico, fire crews contained a 35-acre blaze caused by an unattended campfire. The fire broke out on Saturday afternoon.

19 May 2000

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: Investigators said on Thursday that federal officials made 'critical mistakes' in setting a New Mexico brush fire that raged out of control last week, devastating the town of Los Alamos and scorching the largest U.S. nuclear weapons lab. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt presented the report by government wildfire experts investigating how a National Park Service "controlled burn" set on 4 May erupted into New Mexico's worst wildfire....

12 May 2000

NEW MEXICO:

Wildfire Continues To Burn Out Of Control

About 1,000 firefighters struggled to hold the line against a wildfire whipped by furious winds that raced through 280 homes and forced 25,000 people from the town of Los Alamos. Ed Pullian, a battalion chief with the Los Alamos Fire Department, said: "It looks like a war zone."

The fire was still reported to be growing on Friday morning but at a slower pace as winds calmed somewhat. The winds were expected to remain gusty. The blaze was set a week ago to burn brush at Bandelier National Monument, then sliced through 20,000 acres like a hot-knife through butter. The man who gave the approval for the so-called controlled burn was placed on official leave on Thursday.

With helicopters, airplanes, bulldozers and hand tools, firefighters continue to work very hard on Friday morning to stanch the fire. Fire crews took advantage of nightfall, with its lower temperatures and higher humidity, to create "back-fires" and burn trees, grass and brush about five miles from town, hoping to create a "scorched earth" area that would stop the fire from spreading. Other crews were dousing homes with water, cutting brush and digging trenches in still- standing neighborhoods...Click here for local coverage and a fire map of the affected areas from the The Albuquerque Tribune...

11 May 2000

NEW MEXICO:

Los Alamos Wildfire "Out Of Control"

Photo: Courtesy of U.S. National Science Foundation Frustrated firefighters ran short of water and were forced to retreat as a firestorm swept through the abandoned streets of Los Alamos on Wednesday and early Thursday burning at least 100 homes. At least 18,000 people were evacuated from Los Alamos, including another 7,000 people in suburban White Rock on Thursday morning. No injuries were reported, but POTUS has declared New Mexico a major disaster area.

At the Los Alamos National Laboratory, flames singed a research building but it did not ignite. Explosives and radioactive material were protected in fireproof facilities. The fire was set by the National Park Service a week ago to clear brush, but it quickly flared out of control and grew to more than 4,500 acres. Winds gusted to 50 mph on Wednesday and forecasters said they could increase on Thursday to 60 mph.

Neighborhood by neighborhood, Los Alamos burned on Wednesday. Residents of the community started to evacuate as winds rose in the afternoon. Police, sheriff's and fire department officials went door to door among Los Alamos' 6,000 households, telling people to get out. Firefighters said that the blaze was too dangerous to battle head-on. They pulled back as flames advanced. Firefighters even had to move their command post.

Water-dropping helicopters and airplanes dropping pink fire retardant bombarded the blaze, hoping to slow its westward and northward thrust. The Los Alamos laboratory declared a general emergency at 11:00MDT Wednesday, saying there were grass and brush fires at three of its research facilities. Its weapons-engineering tritium facility at Technical Area 16 was swept by fire, but the masonry building was left intact.

10 May 2000

NEW MEXICO:

No End In Sight For Two Wildfires

More than 9,000 acres have now burned in parts of New Mexico, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes. High winds forecast for Wednesday will not help firefighters battling the two major wildfires. The National Weather Service said that it was expecting 50 mph winds in the Los Alamos area on Thursday.

The Los Alamos fire grew to 3,700 acres late Tuesday and had burned to Los Alamos National Laboratory's property line. The lab was closed for a third consecutive day today, as were Los Alamos schools and county offices.

In Ruidoso, an estimated 135 evacuees from five flame-threatened subdivisions were still kept away from their homes on Tuesday. The Ruidoso fire had grown to 5,700 acres, but winds were expected to be milder than in the Los Alamos area...

09 May 2000

NEW MEXICO:

"The State Is A Tinderbox"

As a large wildfire burned across more than 5,000 acres, hundreds of people in Ruidoso, New Mexico, were forced to evacuate as flames came within a few feet of homes. One firefighter said: "It burned right up to their back yard and backdoor steps." Ruidoso is located in south-central New Mexico. The blaze did burn some fencing and a flatbed trailer, but firefighters did not lose a single house.

A second blaze 200 miles to the northwest forced the evacuation of at least 500 homes and virtually shut down the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Lab officials have said explosives and nuclear material were in fire-safe structures. The lab, as well as Los Alamos County schools and offices, were closed for a second straight day on Tuesday. No major injuries have been reported.

Officials say this fire season could rival the one in 1996. While declaring a state of emergency on Monday, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson said: "The state is a tinderbox."

08 May 2000

NEW MEXICO:

Wildfire Affects Los Alamos National Laboratory

A wildfire burned 1,200 acres near the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Sunday. Firefighters are still battling to gain control of the blaze. The fire forced the evacuation of about 500 homes and closed the security-sensitive laboratory and other county agencies.

The National Park Service had planned to burn about 900 acres in the area in a "controlled burn," but dry, windy conditions pushed it out of control on Friday. It was contained on Saturday, but shifting winds re-ignited the blaze on Sunday. The fire spread to Water Canyon on the lab's western boundary near a work site.

No injuries had been reported from the Los Alamos fire or another blaze in south-central New Mexico. In Ruidoso, a fire destroyed at least three homes and forced the evacuation of 150 houses. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

© EmergencyNet News Service, 2000. All rights reserved. May not be redistributed without expressed permission of ERRI/EmergencyNet News.

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