Fires prompt Oregon emergency declaration

SALEM, Oregon (CNN) -- Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber declared a drought emergency for his state Thursday and mobilized 120 National Guard troops to help battle wildfires.

The National Interagency Fire Information Center said Oregon and Washington, which are suffering dry conditions and winds ranging from 15 to 35 mph, continue to have the worst blazes of the 10 Western states with wildfires Thursday.

An aide to Kitzhaber said crews will be sent Friday to fight the Quartz fire. That blaze has charred 5,500 acres near Medford, Oregon, and remains out of control, according to the NIFIC.

The NIFIC said there are 11 fires burning in Oregon, covering 254,000 acres. The largest is the Lakeview Complex, a cluster of five fires that have burned over 179,400 acres.

Another major hot spot was Leavenworth, Washington where 19 spot fires are burning together and threatening the 1,500 homes in Leavenworth.

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Residents have been put on alert that an evacuation order may be issued.

Fire Information Officer David Widmark said there are 3,500 firefighters and support teams on the ground in Oregon. He said another 1,000 firefighters are battling blazes in Washington.

Calling in reinforcements

The developments in Oregon came as federal officials in Boise, Idaho, were ratcheting up operations to battle a total of 42 major fires that have scorched more than 500,000 acres so far.

Don Smurthwaite, an NIFIC spokesman, said that until two weeks ago the nation was having a "tame fire season," but then conditions began to dry out and thunderstorms with lightning and no moisture moved in.

If the dry, windy conditions continue, he said, federal training crews will probably be dispatched to military installations as early as next week to begin training soldiers and Marines "to come out and help us do some handline work on the fires."

He said it had not yet been decided which military units would be used. The military crews would be put to work on the least dangerous fires by next weekend, freeing experience fire crews to fight the worst blazes.

"We would never put freshly trained military crews on the line fighting an active fire," said Smurthwaite. "It would be too dangerous."

Currently there are 21,000 firefighters battling major fires in 10 states.

This year better than last

Smurthwaite said the Northwest, an area stretching from San Francisco to Salt Lake City and then northward to the Canadian border, is taking a brunt of the current action.

In addition to Oregon and Washington, major fires also continue to burn in California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Texas, Wyoming, Arizona and Oklahoma.

But on the up side, those same fire officials say the nation is having a much better time with wildfires than last year and firefighters are more prepared to fight them.

"At this time this year, we are in much better shape than we were in the year 2000," said Smurthwaite. "For example, we've burned about 2.3 million acres so far in 2001, and last year at this time it was right around 5 million acres."

He said last year's fires led Congress to appropriate $1.8 billion to pay for more firefighters and firefighting equipment.