Forest Fires

This year is shaping up to be a time of fire. Thus far, there have been more than 79,000 wild-land fires, affecting roughly 5 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. We have already experienced the worst forest fires since 1996--and the season's not over yet. As of Oct. 14, five large wildfires were burning in the West, two of them in California. Yet, as bad as the fires have been this year, they are only a warning of much worse to come. A century of U.S.

Thirteen senators, all but one from the West, announced their support Thursday for a plan to reduce the risk of catastrophic forest fires on federal land by cleaning out underbrush, thinning trees and--if necessary--building roads to provide emergency vehicles with access to remote forest regions.

Maine's largest forest fire in eight years was contained Friday as firefighters resumed their three-day-old battle against flames that have scorched an estimated 1,000 acres. The Maine fire was contained behind a six-mile line in the eastern portion of the state, Forest Service spokesman Dick Dyer said.

As the 1,400 firefighters who fought the 3,900-acre fire in the Angeles National Forest for the last four days won their battle Wednesday when the blaze was fully contained, a six-man team of U.S. Forest Service specialists geared up for another challenge--to restore the wilderness habitat as quickly as possible. It is a process that will take months, and while this kidney-shaped fire was not as large as some, it devastated some valuable wilderness.

For most of the last 2,000 years, and perhaps for as long as 11,000 years, American Indians have used fire to shape North America's forests. In the winter, they burned forests high in the mountains to drive elk and deer to lower elevations where they could be hunted. They burned forests and brush around their villages to keep enemies from hiding there and to prevent enemies from burning the villages down.

A Bakersfield woman accused of starting a fire that scorched more than 150,000 acres of forest last summer pleaded guilty Monday as part of a plea agreement. Peri Dare Van Brunt, 46, was charged with leaving a fire unattended and unextinguished, causing the worst blaze in Sequoia National Park history, authorities said. The $60-million blaze destroyed three homes and five commercial properties.

Forest fires have burned up to 270,000 acres and spread fast because of dry weather, an Alaska state forestry official said. More than 1,000 firefighters were battling 44 of the blazes. The flames have come close to native villages, lakeside recreational areas and within 200 yards of some cabins in the Yukon River Valley but so far have burned no buildings. The fires have left trans-Alaska oil pipeline operations unaffected.

Thousands fled their homes as strong winds pushed two huge forest fires close to towns and villages in Quebec province on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. Residents of Ragueneau, a town of 1,860, sought refuge in other towns or in shelters in nearby Baie-Comeau, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's hometown. The blazes have destroyed 950 square miles in eastern Quebec.

Firefighters used water-bombing planes and firebreaks to try to tame forest fires that have burned hundreds of thousands of acres in northern Quebec, sending smoke as far south as Washington, D.C. Smoke had been blowing south, prompting advisories in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but a wind shift overnight caused it to head east toward the Atlantic. At least 80 fires were burning, Quebec forestry officials said.

More than 2,000 firefighters and National Guardsmen on Sunday battled forest fires that have charred more than 47,000 acres in Alabama since the first of the year. Dry winds continued to whip up brush fires in northern and central Louisiana. Frank Sego of the Alabama Forestry Commission said that firefighters were battling 310 blazes on Saturday. The fires caused no serious injuries or evacuations, but 3,257 acres went up in smoke. "That was one day alone," Sego said.