'Good progress' against U.S. wildfires

By Jim Morris
CNN.com Senior Writer

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)     MESSAGE BOARD Nature's wrath

BOISE, Idaho (CNN) -- Aided by favorable weather, firefighters said Friday they continued to make gains against wildfires in the northern Rockies. Meantime, Texas, which earlier this week had nearly three dozen large wildfires, now has just 10.

"Windy, cool and moist conditions are expected to further help firefighters in Idaho and western Montana make gains on the largest and longest-lasting fires in the country," the Idaho-based National Interagency Fire Center said on its Web site.

"We're making slow, but good progress," said a NIFC official.

The agency said it expected the recent streak of fire-stopping weather in the northern Rockies could continue over the weekend, although "winds could be a problem."

To the south, "cooler temperatures, higher humidity, and precipitation will prevail in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and eastern Texas," the fire center said. But elsewhere in Texas and in Oklahoma weather is expected to be hot and dry.

Nationally, there are 50 wildfires Friday, spread out in 11 states, according to the fire center.

The states are: California (1 fire), Idaho (6), Mississippi (1), Montana (23), Nebraska (1), Nevada (1), Oklahoma (3), South Dakota (1), Texas (10), Utah (1) and Wyoming (2).

The 10 wildfires reported in Texas on Friday represents a sharp drop from 35 in the state just two days earlier.

So far this year, wildfires throughout the United States have burned 6,654,602 acres (10, 397 square miles), the fire center said Friday.

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.

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September 2, 2000

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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