U.S. disaster aid director tours wildfire damage

Montana has third of blazes burning in West

In this story: Federal help promised Fires elsewhere in West Angry words flare after botched backfire RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

WICKES, Montana -- With thousands of homes threatened in Montana alone, the number of wildfires burning through the western United States flared higher Saturday as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency toured fire-blackened landscape.

VIDEO CNN's Don Knapp says several homeowners claim backfires set to counter raging wildfires burned their houses. Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN National Correspondent Mike Boettcher shows how Marines turned into firefighters battling wildfires in Idaho (August 11) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     GALLERY Click here for images of the wildfires    WEATHER FORECASTS Montana   • Helena   • Missoula   • Butte   • Hamilton     AUDIO Listen to residents of Pinesdale, Montana     RESOURCES Click here to view the National Interagency Fire Center's map of large wildland fires Click here to view satellite images of the wildfires (NOAA Web site)     ALSO Firefighter killed, another injured as U.S. forests continue to burn Australians, New Zealanders to help U.S. Army troops on Montana firelines     MESSAGE BOARD Nature's wrath

James Lee Witt promised federal aid for local governments strapped by the expense of fighting this summer's wildfires. A child's bicycle still smoldered in a field as the FEMA director visited Wickes, a small town south of Helena, the capital of Montana. Flames had swept through the former mining camp earlier in the week, destroying an abandoned post office and other buildings.

Fire officials said they were encouraged by two days of cooler temperatures that allowed crews to make progress against some of the blazes that have made Montana a hot spot of firefighting efforts across the West.

"We're hoping that the situation is past its crisis stage," said Jack Kendley, a fire information officer for two major blazes burning south of Helena. "I think we're in pretty good shape. ... Our biggest danger would be spotting over the fire lines."

However, meteorologists forecast a return of hot, dry weather.

The number of large wildland fires in the western United States stood at 69 on Saturday, rising from 60 the day before due to lightning strikes, according to the federal government's National Fire Information Center in Boise, Idaho.

About a third of those blazes are in Montana, where 6,154 firefighters were at work Saturday.

The center also reported blazes burning out of control in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Combined, they had charred 923,535 acres (1,443 square miles), the agency said.

Federal help promised

The fire that swept through Wickes, combined with another fire in the area, had burned close to 14,000 acres (22 square miles) and forced hundreds of people to evacuate. The two fires were about 85 percent contained Saturday and some 900 firefighters remained on the line.

State Disaster and Emergency Services Division officials estimated that 2,439 houses were threatened by fires around the state, including more than 1,900 in the Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula.

The fires that began in late July have destroyed 166 buildings, including more than 50 homes.

Meeting with local volunteer firefighters, Witt said Montana's fires were so bad that FEMA would pay for 100 percent of eligible state and local firefighting costs, with 50 percent now.

"Let's get it done," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana. "We shouldn't have to have the Is dotted and the Ts crossed to get the money that is needed."

Gov. Marc Racicot said the FEMA money means he won't have to call the Legislature into special session to provide extra funding authority as he had planned.

In the Bitterroot Valley, wind had eased enough to let firefighters protect homes and dig new lines along a number of blazes.

State, local and federal fighting costs have topped $62 million in Montana.

Near the valley town of Pinesdale, where 500 people have been evacuated since last week, five miles of bulldozer line and two miles of hand-dug fire line were in place Saturday around one 8,000-acre (12.5-square-mile) fire.

"It's looking good," said Carey Jones, a fire information officer.

However, he said officials had no immediate plans to lift the evacuation order and cautioned that the area was not out of danger.

Fires elsewhere in the West

Elsewhere in the West, Nevada's largest fire, about 25 miles southeast of Jackpot in the state's northeastern corner, was 95 percent contained at 39,700 acres (62 square miles).

An intentionally set backfire, shown in this home video image, destroyed homes in the Dickson Creek area, residents say

Pack trains of horses were hauling water to crews in remote areas or in the Jarbidge Wilderness where motorized vehicles are forbidden.

Nearly 3,700 firefighters were battling fires in Idaho, roughly half of them on a blaze near the Montana state line that had spread through 127,000 acres (198 square miles) and was only 40 percent contained Saturday.

A range fire near Hazelton, Idaho, was contained within only 24 hours after burning 20,000 acres (31 square miles), but it killed 150 cattle.

A firefighter was killed Friday when wind-driven flames swept over a fire truck on the Wind River Reservation near Thermopolis, Wyoming. Another firefighter died August 6 when a helicopter crashed battling fires in Nevada.

Firefighters from Texas, Arizona, Florida and South Dakota also have died fighting wildfires this year.

Angry words flare after botched backfire

Tempers flared Friday night when angry residents from the southern end of the Bitterroot Valley met with U.S. Forest Service officials, accusing firefighters of incompetence for setting a backfire August 5 that burned their houses in Dickson Creek, Montana.

A helicopter sprays water onto a smoldering section of the Bitterroot National Forest on Friday

The residents complained their houses were in no danger until a wall of flames from the backfire overtook them.

Greg and Mary Tilford, whose home burned to the ground, have no insurance.

"I'm angry," said Greg Tilford. But, he added, "I don't know who to be angry at because it's just too early to have answers and to point fingers at who might be responsible."

U.S. Forest Service officials promised there would be an investigation.

Bitterroot National Forest officials previously confirmed the backfire was set in an attempt to destroy enough fuel in front of a larger fire to stop its advance.

So far this year, U.S. wildfires have consumed more than 4.4 million acres (6,875 square miles), an area greater in size than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.

Correspondent Don Knapp and The Associated Press contributed to this report, written by CNN.com's Jim Morris.

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