Related: CDF Fire Crew Over-Run, Four Firefighters Burned &
Fires Threaten Wilderness Living
LEN IWANSKI
Associated Press Writer
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Scores of wildfires have forced beleaguered firefighters to give up ground as officials across western Montana warned people to stay inside and out of the thickening smoke.
Fifteen major fires were burning on 100,000 acres in the state, and hundreds of homes were evacuated in the Bitterroot Valley, where heavy smoke cut visibility on stretches of highways to zero.
In Nevada, a firefighting helicopter crashed near Elko, killing one crew member and injuring three other people shortly after takeoff late Thursday. One crew member remained in serious condition Friday; the pilot and a fuel truck driver who ran to help were treated and released.
In all, nearly 62,000 wildfires have been reported across the nation this year, scorching nearly 3.8 million acres. In Seattle, Assistant Interior Secretary Sylvia Baca called it the worst fire season in 50 years.
``We're thinking this is shaping up to be a reference point for years to come in terms of its severity,'' said Baca, who oversees the Bureau of Land Management and its 264 million acres of public land in the West.
Baca said the population in the West has risen dramatically in the past decade so there are more homes and structures to fuel fires. She said the season could last for at least another month.
There were more than 60 large fires burning Friday across more than 650,000 acres of the West, and forecasts called for continued dry and hot conditions with the potential for lightning-packed thunderstorms.
More than 300 families have been forced out of their homes in the Bitterroot Valley, a lush 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. County officials have declared a state of emergency because of the smoke.
``The increased fire activity is being experienced throughout the forest, and in some areas firefighters have been forced to come off the fire lines,'' Bitterroot National Forest officials said.
Fire conditions were predicted at the worst possible level, known as ``red flag,'' Friday, with temperatures in the 90s and blustery winds. The entire southwestern Montana zone raised its fire-danger rating to ``extreme'' on Thursday. It previously reached that level in 1994 and 1988, officials said.
Farther south, near Jackson, Wyo., a brief downpour Thursday slowed a 3,100-acre wildfire, but 200 people were no closer to returning to their homes, cabins and campsites in the Bridger-Teton National Forest on Friday.
The lack of rain in northwestern Wyoming is close to what it was in 1988, the year of the devastating Yellowstone National Park fires.
In central Idaho, nearly 600 soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, wrapped up two days of firefighter training and streamed into already burned areas of the Burgdorf Junction fire to begin mopping up.
The soldiers' arrival freed up experienced firefighters to battled the stubborn blaze that had ballooned to 17,000 acres by Friday. Six Blackhawk helicopters joined the crew, dropping water and flame retardant on hotspots.
Outside Reno, crews corralled a fire that damaged six homes even as other lightning-sparked blazes flared up across northern Nevada _ some burning virtually unchecked.
Gary Zunino, northern regional manager for the Nevada Division of Forestry, said the number of people and equipment to battle the flames was dwindling.
``The fires are going to move fast and get big fast,'' he said. ``Everybody in the West is fighting for the same resources.''
Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck toured the Idaho and Montana fire lines Thursday and promised adequate resources for fire crews.
``This is top on our radar screen,'' Dombeck said.
Approximately 20,000 civilian and military firefighters are at work from 46 states and Canada. In Montana, 270 Army and Air National Guard troops worked their first shifts this week after a crash course in firefighting.
Elsewhere, firefighters across Utah battled nearly 71,000 acres of wildfires -- including more than 57,000 acres in the Fishlake National Forest -- as they waited for reinforcements from the Utah National Guard.
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