Western fires burn near-record acreage

Dozens of wildfires burning across the West yesterday pushed the acreage blackened so far this summer to possible record highs, and weary firefighters looked forward to Army and National Guard reinforcements.

``This is the most we've burned this early in the West,'' said Renee Snyder, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. ``There are so many fires going on at one time that the resources are being stretched.''

The total acres burned to date are 4.3 million, exceeding year-end totals for all but three previous years - 1988, 1990 and 1994, when drought and heat left the region tinder dry. Exact acreage to date figures from those years were unavailable.

The most serious of the blazes dotting Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington was near the Northern California resort area surrounding Clear Lake, 100 miles north of San Francisco.

In southwestern Colorado, firefighters battled a wind-whipped fire in Mesa Verde National Park, hoping to keep the flames from the visitor center, lodge and museum.

It forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists from the long, high mesa of ancient Anasazi cliff dwellings that date back to the 10th century.

The fire - apparently started by lightning on Sunday - swiftly burned 400 acres of dense pinon and juniper and was estimated at about 600 acres despite air and ground attacks from 100 firefighters.

In Arizona, firefighters were close to containing a 400-acre fire near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, officials said.

The Saddle fire has been burning for about a week and was expected to be contained by tonight, said Mark Baron, a fire management officer with the North Kaibab Ranger District.

The week-old, human-caused California blaze had consumed 70,000 acres by yesterday, spewing a pall of smoke and raining ash for hundreds of miles around. It was only 17 percent contained.

One thousand people in five communities were evacuated and three more towns were on alert. Some 2,764 firefighters, sweating through their fireproof suits alongside 35 roaring bulldozers, crashed through trees and underbrush to clear a line around them. And 650 Army soldiers from Colorado were expected to arrive today, spokesman Eric Neitzel said.

Favorable weather looked as if it would help their efforts.

But still, 400 structures in Lake County and 22 turn-of-the-century homesteader cabins near Yosemite National Park were threatened by two of 15 separate blazes across California.

Nearly 32,000 acres of forest land burned near Yosemite, and the flames threatened one mountain community and several tree plantations.

For the first time since lightning ignited those flames, the 1,890 firefighters on them were beginning to feel optimistic, spokesman Allen Spencer said.

In Southern California, a 69,000-acre fire roared unchecked through dense brush in rough terrain near San Luis Obispo.

The blaze moved into the Los Padres National Forest, where the heat and terrain were so bad that nearly 1,800 firefighters had to stay away and instead concentrate on creating firebreaks around the perimeter. Seventeen firefighters had minor injuries.

In Oregon, firefighters mopped up hot spots on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation while others moved on to other blazes, hoping to control them before the next round of lightning and hot weather.

The Simnasho fire on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, about 90 miles southeast of Portland, grew to 115,000 acres as crews continued burning out vulnerable rangeland to strengthen fire lines.

In eastern Oregon, a helicopter fighting flames in the Umatilla National Forest crashed while dropping water yesterday. The pilot was not hurt.

Anyone interested in joining the noble ranks of firefighter can get "http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~mmacht/fire.html" career information and job listings on the Internet.