Reinforcements head for Oregon as fires rage
Crew 4 firefighter John Simpson cools off during the boat ride across Lake Billy Chinook on Wednesday, near Madras after spending several days in the forest north of the Metolius River fighting the Eyerly Fire. - AP Photo
By John Enders, Associated Press Writer
SISTERS -- An Army battalion will soon join firefighters from several states who are converging on Oregon to battle wildfires raging in vast stretches of brush and timber.
Ten Oregon crews that were fighting fires in other Western states will be returning home by the weekend, joined by firefighters from eight other states, fire officials said late Wednesday.
And on July 29, 650 Army soldiers from a base in Kansas will be arriving in Oregon, the officials said.
Crews already in the state are struggling against gusty winds and rugged terrain as they seek to control wildfires burning on more than 120,000 acres.
It is the third straight year that the military has been called in to fight fires in the West. Fire officials say the fire season started particularly early this year and it hasn't let up.
"It came out early and it came out roaring," said Don Smurthwaite, spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, which oversees the nation's fire suppression efforts.
About 3.5 million acres have been charred across the West this year, far ahead of the 10-year average of 1.6 million acres. Colorado and Arizona have both seen the largest wildfires in their histories; on Wednesday alone, there were 51 large, active fires burning on more than 400,000 acres.
The soldiers arriving from Fort Riley, Kan., will join 17,000 people who have been stretched thin fighting fires in nearly a dozen states.
The soldiers will be trained and then deployed in eastern Oregon, where officials say an 18,700-acre fire could grow to more than 100,000 acres unless it is contained. Gov. John Kitzhaber called in 500 Oregon National Guard troops to help firefighting efforts.
Fire crews from Australia and New Zealand have helped in the past, but Smurthwaite said there are liability questions to be resolved before they can go to work this year. Legislation before Congress would address the concerns.
In southern Oregon, officials recommended the evacuation of 200 homes outside the town of Ruch as a wildfire neared, driven by winds. About a third of the residents chose to leave.
Elsewhere in the West:
* In Arizona, authorities said they planned to announce Thursday whether charges would be filed in the Chediski fire, which merged with another in eastern Arizona to form the largest wildfire in state history. The fire was started in brush by a woman who said she was trying to signal a news helicopter after she became lost on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.
* Rain helped firefighters battling a fire on the Utah-Nevada border, which was 70 percent contained Wednesday. The blaze, which started a week ago in Nevada, has burned more than 8,500 acres in the two states.
* Rainy, cooler weather continued to aid firefighters battling a blaze in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The fire, burning on 9,000 acres, was started June 27 by lightning. It was one of 14 fires in Yellowstone.
On the Net:
National Interagency Fire Center: www.nifc.gov
