Hundreds of fires burning in Western U.S.

Thousands of firefighters are battling blazes that have burned at least 40,000 acres MESSAGE BOARD: Nature's wrath VIDEO Mike Teselle, of CNN affiliate KCRA, reports on the California blazes (Aug. 25) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Rusty Dornin shows the Western wildfires (Aug. 26) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

August 26, 1999
Web posted at: 8:28 a.m. EDT (1228 GMT)

(CNN) -- Hundreds of wildfires were burning Thursday across the West, where lightning, wind, 100-degree heat and low humidity have fueled the flames as vacationers head to the forests for late-summer camping.

The blazes have burned at least 40,000 acres of brush and trees and are blamed for at least one death.

Thousands of firefighters are battling the blazes, most of them in northern California, where National Weather Service forecasts worried firefighters.

"They're predicting some very serious conditions for what's going on now," said Karen Terrill of the California Department of Forestry, which has deployed 75 percent of its 6,700 firefighters.

"It's supposed to remain hot and dry," she said. "And a new weather system is coming in that will include lightning with very little rain."

Federal firefighters have requested help from as far away as North Dakota and Tennessee, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Katy Coulter said.

Expecting a surge of late-summer campers, forest officials warned vacationers that campfires are banned in some areas.

California:

• A wildfire forced nearly 100 people to flee their homes in a rural area of Butte County, near the town of Centerville. "We're short on resources," said Butte County Fire Chief Henri Brachais before the immediate danger ended. "Every person we have assigned to our unit is on duty."
  
  "It started getting windy," said homeowner Chris Jones, "and the next thing you know it was on us about one o'clock (Wednesday) morning." Hours later, residents returned to their homes.

• Heavy smoke from approximately 100 blazes drifted through the Central Valley, adding a choking haze to triple-digit heat in Sacramento. Michelle Bruno, 36, of Oroville was found burned to death in a vehicle Tuesday along a dirt road near Lake Oroville.
  
  
• In Stanislaus National Forest, about 700 firefighters carved a bare-earth control line around half of a 3,320-acre brush and timber blaze, which was 50 percent contained Wednesday night.
  
  
• Lightning caused fires that burned nearly 6,000 acres in two wilderness areas of Yosemite National Park.
  
  
• A 700-acre fire, sparked by a car crash, remained out of control early Thursday in the Angeles National Forest, about 45 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, where it surged toward communications towers before it was turned aside

Nevada:

A grass and sagebrush blaze, sparked by a car fire, threatened about 60 ranches in the Antelope Valley, 10 miles north of Reno. The 4,500-acre fire was 80 percent contained Wednesday and evacuees were allowed to return -- to scorched hillsides.

Hot and dry weather and lightning make conditions ripe for more fires

"It was nightmare," said resident Penny Northrup. "We just moved in about a month ago and haven't even made our first payment yet."

Others were grateful the damage wasn't worse. "We lost no animals and we lost no people," said animal shelter operator Aaron Hiibel. "If you were in the middle of it, you can see an awful lot of miracles."

Oregon:

A wildfire charred 5,000 acres of grass and brush on the Sheldon-Hart National Wildlife Refuge and an 1,100-acre fire was burning brush on federal land near Prineville.

Utah

A lightning-caused fire near St. George was 100 percent contained Wednesday evening and is expected to be controlled by Friday, the Bureau of Land Management said. The 2,100-acre fire burned pinon, juniper, desert grass and brush in Jackson Canyon. No injuries were reported.

Correspondent Rusty Dornin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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