103 WILDFIRES RAGING IN MORE THAN A DOZEN STATES
IDAHO— Six large new wildfires erupted in the United States, pushing the number of major active blazes nationwide to 103, with more expected to break out sparked by lightning strikes on bone-dry terrain, authorities said on Saturday.
More than 30,000 personnel, including firefighters from across the United States and nearly 140 from Australia and New Zealand, were battling the blazes that have consumed more than 648,000 hectares, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC).
13 states burning
The NICC said the 13 states that had reported wildfires were Alaska with 17, Arizona, 13; Colorado, 12; California, 10; Ida- ho, 10; Oregon, 10; Washington, 10; Montana, seven; Utah, seven; New Mexico, three; Wyoming, two; and Hawaii and Nevada with one each.
“We are expecting that there will be more fire-starts today,” Jeremy Grams, lead forecaster with the National Weather Ser- vice’s Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma, said in an interview on Saturday.
According to Grams, dry thunderstorms, which produce lightning but little rain, are expected for parts of the Rocky Mountain region, while the US northwest has critical fire weather conditions that include strong winds and low relative humidity.
Firefighters were battling another day of hot temperatures and strong winds on Saturday, the NICC said.
8 dead in California
A mechanic helping to fight the Carr Fire near Redding in northern California was killed in a car crash on Thursday, the eighth person to die in that fire.
The 77,243-ha Carr Fire has destroyed nearly 1,100 homes.
About 160 kilometers southwest of the Carr Fire, about 3,500 firefighters are battling the Mendocino Complex Fire, which has burned 132,828 ha as of Saturday and was the largest fire on record in California.