Wyoming Wildfire Moves Toward Homes
Pastor Dale Morgan
Wyoming Wildfire Moves Toward Homes*
Wednesday August 16, 2006 6:16 AM
By BEN NEARY
Associated Press Writer
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Gov. Dave Freudenthal declared a state of
emergency Tuesday as winds pushed a fast-moving wildfire toward hundreds
of evacuated homes south of Casper.
The fire, first reported Monday, had burned about 7,000 acres - almost
11 square miles - by Tuesday evening with no containment, the governor's
office said.
The fire was about five miles south of Casper - Wyoming's second-largest
city, near the center of the state. But it was moving southeast, away
from the city, toward scattered rural subdivisions.
``Part of the difficulty is the extensive amount of beetle-kill (dead
trees), and the extremely dry weather we've had,'' Freudenthal said.
Elsewhere, cooler air helped firefighters in Southern California advance
on a blaze that charred about 7 square miles of hillside brush and
temporarily cut power in northern Los Angeles County on Sunday. Germain
Aguilara, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said
they hoped to have the fire fully contained by Wednesday night.
``The crew keeps advancing on it,'' Aguilara said. ``As long as the wind
out there is not erratic, that will help us make progress.''
In Washington state, about 550 Army soldiers were being sent to fires
that had blackened more than 140 square miles in the Okanogan and
Wenatchee national forests.
More than 2,285 firefighters had been assigned to the fires, blamed on
lightning strikes in July.
In Idaho, a blaze in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, 7 miles north
of Stanley, had grown to more than 25 square miles and was threatening
vacation cabins. It was being fought by more than 700 firefighters.
In Montana, a 50-square-mile fire in the northwestern part of the state
near the Canadian border showed little activity, and was 75 percent
contained. Meanwhile, residents of nine homes in Ravalli County were
asked to be prepared to leave as fire southeast of Lewis and Clark
Caverns State Park grew to less than a square mile.
Lightning in northern Nevada also started 10 brush fires in Elko County
along a 100-mile stretch from Interstate 80 to near the Idaho line,
authorities said Tuesday. Five firefighters were treated after their
truck overturned, but the most serious injury was a broken arm,
authorities said.
---
On the Net:
National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov/