Forest fires scorch US northwest in worst season
Pastor Dale Morgan
Forest fires scorch US northwest in worst season in six years*
LOS ANGELES, Sep 01 (AFP) Sep 01, 2006
Fire fighters were battling several forest blazes across the US
northwest Thursday in the worst wildfire season in six years in the
region, officials said, but without any deaths reported so far.
A southwest Montana fire driven by high winds charred more than 400
square kilometers (99,000 acres) of the Gallatin National Forest and
destroyed several buildings, according to US forest service reports.
In northwestern Washington state, some 600 square kilometers (150,000
acres) of forest has been ravaged by fire since mid-August, while in
California, the San Bernardino National Forest, 150 kilometers (93
miles) east of Los Angeles, was hit with a new, but relatively small,
blaze after seeing some 350 square kilometers (86,500 acres) scorched
during July.
Other fires of medium intensity, meanwhile, raged in Wyoming, Idaho and
Oregon.
This year's fire season is the most destructive since 2000. Altogether
some 30,000 square kilometers (7.4 million acres) of land have been
burned in fires in the western states this year to date, 30 percent
above the average of the same period for the past 10 years, according to
the National Interagency Fire Center.