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South Dakota Firefighter Dies From Burns BOISE, Idaho, August 7, 2002 (ENS) - A volunteer firefighter from Opal, South Dakota died Tuesday from burns he sustained last week while fighting a grasslands fire in Meade County, South Dakota. David Martin was burned when he fell off a brush truck into the path of the blaze. His death brings this season's toll to 15. The "Rapid City Journal" reports that Ray Wicks, 71, of Red Owl, was charged Tuesday with third degree arson and aggravated assault in connection with the fire. The paper quotes Meade County Sheriff Ron Merwin as saying that the charges may change because Martin died. There were 203 new fires reported yesterday, two of which became large in Alaska and Maryland. Near Shelltown, Maryland, five fires are burning and have consumed 167 acres near the Pokomoke River, a tributary of Chesapeake Bay. They are considered to be 95 percent contained, fire officials say, but high winds and lower relative humidity are hampering containment.
Plane drops fire retardant on a California fire, navigating through thick smoke. (Photo courtesy California Department of Forestry)A new fire at Alaska's Reindeer Lake has spread across 92,800 acres and is burning out of control 50 miles east of the town of Holy Cross. Smokejumpers are setting up structure protection around several residences and outbuildings.More than 50 wildfires are burning in Alaska's interior with firefighters deployed on 11 of them. The Alaska Interagency Coordination Center says cooler temperatures began to slow fire behavior Tuesday, but infrared mapping shows fires have made large acreage gains over the past week. Thick smoke is blanketing the area, restricting aircraft operations and causing health advisories to be issued for Fairbanks and other communities. A fire burning out of control 70 miles west of Fairbanks near the community of Lake Minchumina has blazed across 180,770 acres. The heavy smoke is hampering accurate fire mapping and limiting aerial operations. In the same area, a group of four fires northwest of Lake Minchumina have consumed 170,760 acres, they have not yet been contained. Firefighting personnel are providing structure protection to threatened cabins along the northwest and north sides of Lake Minchumina.
Julian fire in California blazes out of control July 31. (Photo courtesy California Department of Forestry)In California, more than 3,088 firefighters are working round the clock to contain a fire that has been burning for 10 days near the town of Julian east of San Diego. The Ranchita Subdivision, the Lost Valley Boy Scout Camp and the Los Coyote Indian Reservation have been evacuated and more than 53,000 acres have been burned.The fire is burning into an area with no roads, so access for fire crews will be extremely difficult. California Department of Forestry officials say firefighter safety is their first concern. Due to dangerously low water supplies resulting from this past week’s fire suppression efforts, water officials are asking the area residents of Julian and Margarita to conserve water. A California Forestry Department investigation concluded that the Julian fire was started on July 29 when a California National Guard observation helicopter working with the San Diego Interagency Narcotics Task Force experienced an accidental main rotor "blade strike" on the first line of an electrical power line in the Banner Creek area of Julian. Although the blade strike did not cut the power line, the force of the impact caused the support pole to rattle with sufficient force to break the third line, which fell into the trees, causing a fire, officials said. The California National Guard has begun its own formal investigation into the matter, as required by the Department of the Army.
Fire burns through Sequoia National Forest August 2. (Photo by Pat McNally courtesy U.S. Forest Service)Eleven groves of California's giant sequoia trees are still threatened by a fire that started in the Sequoia National Forest, 12 miles north of Kernville, California, on July 21. The fire is burning on both sides of the Kern River and has charred 105,604 acres.A total of $22.3 million has been spent on containment efforts to save the 11 groves of ancient trees, and reduce the fire threat to the communities of Johnsondale and Ponderosa. The fire is considered 55 percent contained, but fire officials cannot say when it will be completely under control. And in Oregon, the huge Florence fire on the Siskiyou National Forest 26 miles southwest of Grants Pass has burned 243,836 acres and is just 10 percent contained. The Illinois River Valley remains under an evacuation advisory; 3,429 residences and 250 commercial properties are threatened. Firefighters have put structure protection in place. The hiking trail through Oregon's Rogue River Wild and Scenic Area is closed due to extreme fire danger in the area. To date this year, 54,378 fires have consumed 4,727,732 acres of forest and grasslands, roughly twice the 10 year average of acreage burned. |
