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Wildfires blacken parts of US
10/07/2007 10:35 - (SA)
Hot Springs, South Dakota - Fire crews hoped for small breaks from the weather to help fight blazes fuelled by high temperatures, tinder-dry conditions and gusty winds across the Western region of the US.
A Hot Springs, South Dakota, wildfire that killed a man and left more than 30 families homeless spread somewhat to the southwest of the tourist town on Monday, but fire officials expected to gain on it in the next day or so.
"My best guess is that we'll make some good ground on the fire," said Joe Lowe, state wildland fire suppression co-ordinator.
He told night-shift firefighters to be on their toes, however, for a cold front that was expected to sweep through the area overnight. The weather change could bring winds that easily might fan the flames, Lowe said.
Light rain on Monday helped calm the blaze, and Lowe was gaining confidence near day's end that the fire could be encircled. Some firefighters were preparing to return to their homes, but Lowe said that would depend on their progress.
The lightning-sparked fire had spread through a 36-square-kilometre area of Fall River County by late on Monday.
Other fires blackened the landscape in California, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Colorado, Montana and Oregon, many of them also started by lightning and fuelled by the dry conditions, made worse by a heat wave that sizzled across the West last week.
In addition to the death in South Dakota, smoke from a major Utah fire was blamed for two deaths in a weekend motorcycle accident, and another blaze still active in Utah killed three people on June 29.
- AP
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