© Alaska Fire Service
According to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC) Situation Report for Friday, in the last week six new fires have added to the already 30 actively burning throuout the state.
Wildfires
According to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC) Situation Report for Friday, in the last week six new fires have added to the already 30 actively burning throuout the state.
© The Associated Press/Mark Wilson
Smoke billows from the Little Bear fire in southeastern New Mexico Saturday.
Smoke billows from the Little Bear fire in southeastern New Mexico Saturday.
A blaze in northern Colorado was first reported Saturday morning and had grown to about 8,000 acres by mid-evening, while a fire in southern New Mexico was small for a few days until it began growing Friday, reaching about 10,000 acres.
Both fires have damaged property and forced numerous evacuations, but officials haven't yet released specific figures on the numbers who fled.
The wildfire in the mountainous Paradise Park area, about 20 miles northwest of Fort Collins, prompted several dozen evacuation orders.
Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokesman John Schulz said the fire expanded rapidly during the late afternoon and evening and by Saturday night, residents living along several roads in the region had been ordered to evacuate and many more were warned that they might have to flee. An evacuation center has been set up at a Laporte middle school.
Officials didn't specify how many residents had evacuated but said they had sent out 800 emergency notifications urging people to be prepared to evacuate if necessary.
"Right now we're just trying to get these evacuations done and get people safe," Schulz told Denver-based KMGH-TV, adding that "given the extreme heat in the area, it makes it a difficult time for (the firefighters)."
Ten structures have been damaged, although authorities were unsure if they were homes or some other kind of buildings. No injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire was unknown.
Firefighters battling New Mexico's largest-ever blaze gained ground on Sunday and officials said they would begin to allow evacuated residents to return home on Monday.
The Whitewater-Baldy Complex fire, which has burned 241,701 acres in the Gila National Forest, is now 17 percent contained with progress being made by the hour, said Fire Information Officer Heather O'Hanlon.
Residents of the historic mining town of Mogollon, which was evacuated last Saturday, will be allowed to return starting on Monday, she said.
© Reuters/Kari Greer/US Forest Service/Handout
Smoke billows from a forest fire in the Whitewater-Baldy Complex in New Mexico in this June 2, 2012 handout photo obtained by Reuters June 3, 2012.
Smoke billows from a forest fire in the Whitewater-Baldy Complex in New Mexico in this June 2, 2012 handout photo obtained by Reuters June 3, 2012.
Residents of the historic mining town of Mogollon, which was evacuated last Saturday, will be allowed to return starting on Monday, she said.
© AP Photo/U.S. Forest Service
This image provided by the U.S. Forest Service shows a May 29, 2012 photo, of the massive blaze in the Gila National Forest, seen from Neighbors Mountain directly east of Glenwood, N.M. Fire officials said Wednesday the wildfire has burned more than 265 square miles has become the largest fire in New Mexico history.
This image provided by the U.S. Forest Service shows a May 29, 2012 photo, of the massive blaze in the Gila National Forest, seen from Neighbors Mountain directly east of Glenwood, N.M. Fire officials said Wednesday the wildfire has burned more than 265 square miles has become the largest fire in New Mexico history.
The virtually unchecked wildfire is fueling experts' predictions that this is a preview of things to come as states across the West contend with a dangerous recipe of wind, low humidity and tinder-dry fuels.
The Whitewater-Baldy blaze has charred more than 190,000 acres, or nearly 300 square miles, in Gila National Forest and has become the largest wildfire burning in the country.
Gov. Susana Martinez viewed the fire from a New Mexico National Guard helicopter Thursday and saw the thick smoke shrouding some of the steep canyons that are inaccessible to firefighters. She described the terrain as "impossible," saying there was no way for firefighters to directly attack the flames in the rugged areas of wilderness.
"It's going to keep going up," she said of the acreage burned. "Be prepared for that."
© Reuters/U.S. Forest Service
Smoke rises into the air from a large forest fire which has consumed a total of 82,252 acres as seen in this U.S. Forest Service handout photo taken in Gila National Forest, New Mexico May 25, 2012.
Smoke rises into the air from a large forest fire which has consumed a total of 82,252 acres as seen in this U.S. Forest Service handout photo taken in Gila National Forest, New Mexico May 25, 2012.
Efforts to contain the blazes spreading in sparsely populated areas of Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah have been hurt by gusting winds and tinder-dry late-spring conditions.
Several small towns, including the historic Wild West mining town of Mogollon - now nearly a ghost town - were ordered to evacuate, as the spreading fire torched miles forest, brush and grass.
New Mexico's Whitewater-Baldy Complex fire, which was started by lightning 10 days ago, had raged across 82,252 acres as of Friday and officials said the area could now be much larger than that.
"We know that there was significant growth yesterday, but we don't have a hard and fast number," said Fire Information Officer Dan Ware.
More than 580 firefighters and support crew have been fighting the blaze.
"This is the biggest show in the country right now in terms of fire size. So a lot of resources are available to us. We're just not sure we'll be able to do a lot of flying," Ware said.
He said access to the fire had been the chief difficulty as it was burning in very steep, rugged terrain where firefighters were not able to cut through the brush and timber.
"Fire activity was so extreme yesterday we had to pull crews out," he said. "We're expecting another day like that today. With such high wind levels and low humidity there's going to be big potential for some major growth."
© The Canadian Press
A forest fire burns near Timmins, Ont. on Thursday, May 24, 2012.
A forest fire burns near Timmins, Ont. on Thursday, May 24, 2012.
And fire crews report a new fire on Highway 101 southwest of Timmins has forced the evacuation of the Old Mill campground.
The city of 43,000 is under a state of emergency and officials are on high alert.
Mayor Tom Laughren says more than 225 people have been evacuated from rural communities including Hydro Bay, Kamiskotia Highway and Cooks Lake.
Many have sought shelter with the Red Cross, while others are staying with friends or family.
That's in addition to an evacuation order for the nearby Mattagami First Nation that saw 118 residents relocate to Kapuskasing.
"I think the next 48 to 72 hours, from a fire perspective, as it relates to Timmins, will be critical," the mayor said Friday.
Laughren said he hopes the skies will clear up enough to allow water bombers to take on the flames.
© Edmonton journal
Aerial photograph of a wildfire near Lodgepole taken by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development firefighters.
Aerial photograph of a wildfire near Lodgepole taken by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development firefighters.
"The wildfire situation in most of Alberta is serious," said Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Minister Diana McQueen in a news release.
"Unfortunately, most of the wildfires we are fighting right now appear to be human-caused and therefore were 100 per cent preventable. It is very important that everyone take precautions to avoid starting fires - it is so dry and windy in many places that fires can start and spread very quickly."
Firefighters are trying to contain:
A 1,000-hectare blaze near the hamlet of Grassland in northeast Alberta.
A 650-hectare fire near Bonnyville in the eastern part of the province.
A fire half the size of the Bonnyville blaze, near Lodgepole, southwest of Edmonton.
The wind, along with warm, dry conditions, continue to pose the biggest challenge for firefighters, said Geoff Driscoll, a wildfire information officer.
"Certainly the one in Grassland grew the biggest yesterday, but the one near Bonnyville came out a little later in the evening and grew pretty big pretty fast," said Driscoll.
© MSNBC/Today Show
Brush fires fanned by gusty winds have been raging throughout the New York tri-state area, with one blaze injuring firefighters and destroying buildings on a swath of Long Island.
Brush fires fanned by gusty winds have been raging throughout the New York tri-state area, with one blaze injuring firefighters and destroying buildings on a swath of Long Island.
"The fire is not under control. It's burning heavily," NBCNewYork.com quoted Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone as saying at a press briefing. "We're putting as much water on it as we can."
The weather conditions made for "red flag warnings" along the East Coast, NBC weather anchor Al Roker said on TODAY. Areas from Long Island to Florida and as far west as Kentucky were under the advisory, which reflects extremely dangerous fire conditions.
In Long Island's Suffolk County, a state of emergency was declared Tuesday and mandatory evacuations were earlier ordered for an undetermined number of residents in Ridge and Manorville.
Strong gusts and erratic fire behavior forced crews to focus largely on protecting homes overnight instead of attacking the fire that broke out Monday, but more resources have been arriving.
The blaze is among the top in the nation for the priority to get firefighting resources, fire officials said late Tuesday.
Some 450 firefighters from Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah were sent to assist 250 firefighters on the ground. Weather permitting, four aircraft were scheduled to drop retardant Wednesday on the 7-square-mile blaze that resulted in mandatory evacuations of 900 homes south of the commuter town of Conifer, about 25 miles southwest of downtown Denver.
Residents of 6,500 more homes were warned Tuesday to be ready to leave because of the fire's behavior. Many homes are in winding canyons, and authorities wanted to give citizens as much advance warning as possible.
Meanwhile, investigators are trying to determine whether the fire reignited from a controlled burn that was meant to reduce vegetation that could fuel a devastating blaze around homes and watersheds.
© The Associated Press/Kris Garrett
A plume of smoke rises skyward over the top of a wildfire burning out of control near Conifer, Colo., March 26, 2012.
A plume of smoke rises skyward over the top of a wildfire burning out of control near Conifer, Colo., March 26, 2012.
The victim's name wasn't immediately released and investigators haven't said how the person died.
The fast-moving wildfire was reported at midday Monday and spread quickly amid dry, windy weather.
"We're in a defensive mode, structure protection only," Jefferson County Sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said. "We're not really fighting the fire right now."
Kelley said authorities don't know how many houses were lost but said it was at least five and probably more than 10.
Authorities ordered residents of more than 900 homes to evacuate.
There were no other reports of injuries, but a sheriff's deputy who was alerting residents to leave was trapped in his patrol car after he inadvertently drove into a ditch in the thick smoke, Kelley said. He summoned help by radio.
Up to a dozen smaller fires were reported from the northeast Colorado plains to the southern part of the state. There were no immediate reports of injuries or structures destroyed in any of the other fires.
