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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skywatcher who wrote (64690)	4/19/2006 2:57:01 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 362510

Wildfire Season Could Be the Worst Ever By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 18, 11:41 PM ET This year's wildfire season could be one of the worst ever, with 2.15 million acres already burned nationwide this spring — more than five times the average, fire officials said Tuesday. Fires have been especially bad in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska and New Mexico. Fire departments say they are straining under the load with little relief in sight from windy, dry conditions. The acreage numbers, released Monday, count only fires reported to the National Interagency Fire Center as of April 13. They do not include the hundreds of grass fires that firefighters in beleaguered states have been too busy fighting to file all the paperwork on. "It is rare we burn this many acres this early in the fire season," Ken Frederick, a spokesman for the fire center, said. More than 30,665 major fires have been reported nationwide this year so far, compared with an average of 17,288 in the same period, the agency said. The total area burned is more than five times the average 380,048 acres. Fires have killed 18 people and destroyed more than 1,100 buildings this year. Texas alone has fought 1.3 million acres of fires, and more than 115,082 acres have burned in Oklahoma, the agency said. Grass is so dry in some areas it ignites 50 feet in front of the flames just from the heat. Fires are jumping four-lane paved highways, and the flames spread so fast trucks going 30 mph cannot outrun them, he said. "We are seeing stuff that hasn't happened in the last decade," said Jim Schmidt, an emergency management director in Kansas. "We are seeing cedar trees ... igniting 40 feet in front of our fire trucks — exploding with no moisture in it." ____ On the Net: National Interagency Fire Center: nifc.gov