Texas takes lead in number of U.S. wildfires

Dry conditions help fuel a fire that burned a path through trailer homes in Bastrop County, Texas

Blazes in northern Rockies still bigger

In this story: 'It's scary' Some Montana evacuees return home Firefighter flu RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

BOISE, Idaho -- Drought-stricken Texas led the nation Wednesday with 35 large wildfires. While most of them are just a fraction of the size of giant blazes still burning in the northern Rockies, some of the Texas fires have destroyed homes, threatened towns and forced evacuations.

VIDEO Newtown County's fire is typical of what's going on in Texas, as Correspondent Thomas Gandy shows (September 7) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Correspondent Erika Olivares shows the Texas fires (September 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     GALLERY Click here for images of the ongoing fight against the wildfires    WEATHER FORECASTS Idaho   • Boise Montana   • Big Sky   • Bozeman   • Butte   • Hamilton   • Helena   • Missoula Oregon   • Joseph South Dakota   • Rapid City Texas   • Abilene   • Beaumont   • Brownsville   • Dallas   • Del Rio   • Houston   • Nacogdoches   • Tyler   • Waco Utah   • St. George Wyoming   • Yellowstone National Park     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)

"Conditions are dry enough where literally anything that produces even a small amount of heat is enough to start a wildfire," said Clint Cross of the Texas Forest Service.

A 5,000-acre (7.8-square-mile) fire north of Beaumont jumped a highway and destroyed several structures, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. It said the town of Newton is threatened and evacuations are occurring.

A blaze west of San Antonio kept about 250 people out of their homes.

In New Caney, north of Houston, about 100 residents were evacuated to a middle school until a 300-acre (0.5-square-mile) fire was contained.

David Whitehead refused to leave his home in the path of the raging southeast Texas blaze. "I had to stay and help," Whitehead said Tuesday as he patrolled his yard with garden hose in hand. "I couldn't leave my house."

To be listed by the fire center as a "large" wildfire, a blaze must be at least 100 acres (0.15 square miles) in size. But even smaller ones have been costly.

East of Austin, dry conditions helped fuel a 30-acre (0.04-square-mile) brushfire in Bastrop County that destroyed trailer homes in its path, CNN affiliate KXAN reported.

"It's scary," said resident Cheryl Tassie. "We didn't even stop long enough to get my granddaughter dressed. We just took her out. That's a scary feeling. That's the only house I have."

Crews from Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida are helping battle fires in Texas where 180,627 acres (282 square miles) have burned so far this year. That compares with 1,241,290 acres (1,939 square miles) in Idaho and 935,699 acres (1,462 square miles) in Montana.

Nationally, there were 86 fires Wednesday, spread out in nine states, according to the NIFC.

In addition to the 35 in Texas, the fire center listed 24 fires in Montana; 19 in Idaho and 2 in Wyoming. Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Arkansas, California and Mississippi were reported as having 1 fire each.

In southwest Montana, wildfire refugees were trickling back to their homes as officials lifted the remaining evacuation orders in parts of the Bitterroot Valley.

The blazes had forced residents of nearly 100 homes to flee the scenic valley, some as long as a month ago, said Jim Chinn of the Ravalli County Sheriff's Department.

Although some fire-danger restrictions remained in place in Montana, road barriers and land-closure signs came down Tuesday as millions of acres of land were reopened to hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts as cooler weather helped firefighters get the upper hand on some blazes.

Similar conditions in Idaho enabled officials to reopen more than 2 million acres that had been closed there.

"It's just nice to have the trails open so you can go out during your lunch hour and take a break when it's a nice, sunny day," said Mark Bisom, who was finally able to ride his mountain bike through Helena National Forest in Montana.

Nearly 20 million acres of public, state and private land had been closed in Montana, about one-fifth of the state.

Only part of the hard-hit Bitterroot National Forest in Montana reopened Tuesday, but officials said additional land may be reopening Wednesday.

In Idaho, a fire that has burned 200,000 acres (31 square miles) in the Salmon-Challis National Forest was expected to be contained by month's end, fire officials said.

"It's getting pretty slow," said Audrey Kuykendall, a fire information officer at the Salmon-Challis National Forest. "The cooler temperatures help a lot. They're going in and pulling out excess equipment."

The weather has brought its own problems for firefighters. Some crews are experiencing flu-like symptoms caused by moisture, cold, smoke and hard working conditions, said fire center spokeswoman E. Lynn Burkett. Medical units are stationed at larger fires.

Erosion and mudslides also have become a problem in blackened forests due to the loss of trees and protective ground cover.

So far this year, wildfires throughout the United States have burned 6,602,499 acres (10,316 square miles), the fire center said Wednesday.

By comparison, the land area of New Jersey is 7,418 square miles; Massachusetts is 7,838 square miles; New Hampshire is 8,969 square miles; Vermont is 9,249 square miles; and Maryland is 9,774 square miles.

CNN affiliate KXAN, The Associated Press and CNN.com Senior Writer Jim Morris contributed to this report.

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Texas State Forest Service
Northern Rockies Coordination Center
The Army National Guard
National Interagency Fire Center
Federal Emergency Management Agency
  • Federal Disaster Aid Ordered for Montana
USDA Forest Service
National Park Service

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