Clinton sending more troops to help tame raging Western wildfires

Nationwide 1.4 million acres are ablaze

HAMILTON, Montana (CNN) -- Firefighters battling the nation's worst wildfire season in 50 years got a boost Friday from U.S. President Bill Clinton, who ordered an additional 500 Army soldiers to the fire-ravaged West.

The president's move is part of a widening federal effort to commit even more troops and personnel to combat the wildfires, which show no signs of letting up.

On Friday, a 500-soldier Army battalion is expected to leave Fort Campbell in Kentucky for wildfire duty. Next Monday, those troops will be joined by another Army battalion from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

VIDEO CNN's Mike Boettcher meets a woman and her family who well know the Bitteroot wildfires (August 24) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Greg Lefevre looks at the ongoing battle against U.S. wildfires (August 24) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Rick Lockridge explains some methods for keeping homes in forest safe (August 23) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     GALLERY Click here for images of the ongoing fight against the wildfires     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)    WEATHER FORECASTS Montana   • Big Sky   • Bozeman   • Butte   • Hamilton   • Helena   • Missoula Utah   • Salt Lake City Wyoming   • Yellowstone National Park Idaho   • Boise     MESSAGE BOARD Nature's wrath

And within the week, a Marine battalion from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, will join firefighting efforts, said deputy White House spokesman Jake Siewert.

2,500 soldiers being dispatched

The administration's goal is to have five full battalions, 2,500 military personnel in all, on the front lines by Labor Day, with one fresh battalion held in reserve, Siewert said.

Three military battalions are currently part of a contingent of 25,000 federal, state and local firefighters battling blazes throughout the tinder-dry West.

The administration is also moving at least 1,000 federal middle managers to the region to handle the immense logistical problems of feeding, housing and paying firefighters.

The Interior and Agriculture departments plan to deploy middle managers throughout the Western states, where they'll facilitate the issuance of paychecks and other basic services to 13,306 federal employees committed to the firefighting effort.

They'll bring extra pay, too. For various legal reasons, many federal firefighters can't receive overtime pay. So in lieu of overtime, the administration will make lump-sum payments, although the amount has yet to be determined.

The commitment of military personnel comes as Montana firefighters expected Friday to be one of their toughest days yet, smelling fresh smoke in the air as dawn broke above Montana's fire-ravaged Bitterroot Valley.

Across the Northwest, numerous new fires were sparked Thursday by dry thunderstorms, "widening the scope of operations once again," said a National Interagency Fire Center statement.

Gusty winds, scorching temperatures and lightning -- which may have caused a new fire overnight in hard-hit Montana -- underscored the probability that blazes ravaging nearly 600,000 acres in the state could grow worse.

In parts of Montana where some of the 25 major fires are burning, temperatures into the 90s and 40 mph winds were expected.

And in Washington, a lightning-sparked brush fire grew to 35,000 acres Thursday and threatened 50 rural homes outside the town of Mabton. About 150 Yakima County residents were evacuated, as 200 firefighters battled the flames and looked forward to reinforcements to arrive Friday.

The blaze had destroyed 10 small buildings, said Penelope Christopherson of the State Emergency Operations Center.

In Montana, Idaho and Washington, the National Weather Service said hot, breezy weather could continue through the weekend -- providing ideal conditions for new blazes.

On Friday, 84 large fires were burning in Alabama and Florida and nine Western states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. More than 1.4 million acres were on fire nationwide.

Clinton is sending another 500 Army soldiers to fight the western fires

Montana, though, is seeing the worst of the fires. On Thursday, high winds fanned two major wildfires, resulting in additional damage to buildings in the Bitterroot Valley. The fire also led to more evacuations there and in front of an 81,000-acre fire burning mostly in scattered timber and cow pastures between Helena and Bozeman.

In Washington, the fire near Mabton started Wednesday in a remote area of the Yakama Indian Reservation and was spread by high winds. All but about 3,000 acres of the charred land was on the reservation, Christopherson said.

In Montana's Bitterroot Valley, meanwhile, a blaze pushed by 30- to 50-mph winds jumped a road Thursday. Ravalli County officials said some additional buildings were burned, but no dwellings were destroyed. Nearly 70 houses and cabins have been destroyed in the area since the fires began nearly a month ago.

A half-inch of rain had slowed fires in grassy and shrubby areas, but not in taller forest where the fires raged on.

As dawn broke Friday there was cause for worry and hope. Firefighters noted the smell of fresh smoke, but, overhead, the skies were clearer. This raised the possibility that visibility would be good enough to allow for helicopter water drops.

Across the Northwest, morning temperatures have dropped, and there are other signs that fall is drawing near. But the NIFC said the end of summer does not signal an end to the fires.

"We just don't see a real end in sight," said E. Lynn Burkett, spokeswoman for the NIFC in Idaho.

"This time of year, what usually happens is we get monsoon weather in the Southern states and it moves north," bringing rain, she said.

But that isn't happening.

Given Montana's extraordinary dryness and the high risk that more fires will ignite, Gov. Marc Racicot this week doubled the amount of public land closed to recreation and other uses. An area roughly the size of Maine now has been declared off-limits, effective Friday. Fires this year have burned 5.7 million acres across the country.

In Utah on Thursday, flags flew at half-staff at offices of the Bureau of Land Management a day after two firefighters were killed by a lightning strike as they worked to contain the North Stansbury wildfire in Utah.

In addition to the two men killed, four others were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. All had been released by Friday morning.

"We've lost very few lives and very few injuries this year, so this is a very sad event, indeed," said NIFC spokeswoman Burkett.

CNN Correspondent Greg Lefevre and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Winds, lightning expected to bring more flames to Montana
August 24, 2000
Lightning increases fire threat as Montana closes more lands
August 23, 2000
Fire dangers to close more public lands in Montana
August 22, 2000
U.S. wildfires outpace supply of firefighters
August 21, 2000
Retired firefighters asked to battle record-setting U.S. wildfires
August 19, 2000

National Interagency Fire Center
Washington State Emergency Operations Center
Yellowstone National Park
GORP - Bitterroot National Forest
USDA Forest Service
Utah Department of Corrections

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