S.Dakota Wildfire destroyed 20 homes
Pastor Dale Morgan
S.Dakota Wildfire destroyed 20 homes *
07/09/2007 00:45 Source: AP ©
A blaze in southwestern South Dakota killed one person and destroyed 20
homes Sunday. Hundreds of people were evacuated in the paths of fires in
Nevada and Washington state.
Residents of about 50 homes had fled the wildfire burning near Hot
Springs that also had injured two firefighters, state and federal
officials said. Roughly 8 square miles (21 square kilometers) had burned
since the fire started Saturday.
The 8,000-acre (3,237-hectare) wildfire in northern Nevada was threating
up to eight blocks of homes in the town of Winnemucca, about 170 miles
(274 kilometers) east of Reno.
"It's right up to the south edge of town," said U.S. Bureau of Land
Management spokesman Jamie Thompson. "The fire definitely poses a danger
to parts of the town."
The Utah Highway Patrol on Sunday reopened a 100-mile (160-kilometer)
stretch of Interstate 15 and 25 miles (40 kilometers) of I-70 that were
closed when a 250-square-mile (647-square-kilometer)fire jumped the
highways and filled the air with dense smoke. Poor visibility was blamed
for several accidents, including a motorcycle crash that killed two people.
Other Western fires blackened the landscape in California, Colorado,
Arizona, Idaho and Oregon.
The largest Nevada fire had blackened 36 square miles (93 square
kilometers), or 23,000 acres (9,308 hectares), along the Idaho state
line, said Mike Brown, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management. It was 10 percent contained Saturday, officials said.
The South Dakota wildfire grew overnight driven by erratic wind.
South Dakota's firefighting resources were reduced Saturday when a
single-engine air tanker crashed while fighting a fire on the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation. The pilot walked away from the wreck, according to
the Northern Great Plains Joint Information Center.
High wind in central Washington state during the night spread a brush
fire that threatened homes outside Wenatchee. By Sunday morning, 250 to
270 homes had been evacuated and more were under alert. At least three
outbuildings were destroyed.
The fire in central Utah had swept across parts of two counties,
charring an estimated 160,000 acres (64,751 hectares), or 250 square
miles (647 square kilometers), fire information officer LaCee
Bartholomew said.
"The fire laid down a little overnight, but it's still active," she said
Sunday. "We don't have an accurate updated acreage, but it did grow."
In California, more than 400 firefighters battled a blaze that had
covered 17,000 acres (6,880 hectares)of the 2 million-acre
(810,000-hectare)Inyo National Forest east of Yosemite National Park,
forest spokeswoman Nancy Upham said Saturday. Firefighters were
searching for and evacuating hikers and backpackers on and near the
popular trail to Mount Whitney, tallest peak in the lower 48 states.
At least 200 people were evacuated from the small town of Independence,
California, and a section of highway that runs along the eastern spine
of the Sierra Nevada mountain range was closed, officials said.