Fires rage on despite cooler weekend temperatures
President
Clinton has ordered an extra 2,000 government workers to help
put out forest fires raging across the western United States.
Forecasters say a combination of dry weather and strong winds
in the coming days could make the situation even worse.
In the last
few weeks thousands of firefighters have been battling dozens
of large wildfires covering a total of 560,000 hectares (1.4 million
acres).
Fourteen firefighters
have also been killed in the blazes which have been described
as the worst for 50 years.
 A
blaze in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park
So far the US Government has spent more than $400m in the battle,
with more than a month to go in the dry season, forestry officials
say.
The extra
workers are being drafted in to help efforts to put out more than
80 fires which are burning out of control.
Scant rainfall
has left woodlands and forest floors tinder-dry and particularly
vulnerable to lightning.
Faced with
destruction on such a big scale, the Americans have enlisted the
help of 25,000 people including fire crews from as far away as
Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand.
Even as the
operation to put out the fires continues, some experts have questioned
the wisdom of planting trees so closely together in man-made forests.
They say the
dense growth makes fires much harder to extinguish.
Impact
The wildfires
have also been hitting tourism in the Rocky Mountains.
In Montana
the authorities have put 30 of the state's 56 counties under official
use restrictions, meaning people need special permits to use the
land.
A spokeswoman
at the Montana governor's office, Mary Jo Fox, said the area affected
"is the most heavily used by tourists and the most heavily
forested".
"It is
beginning to have an impact on tourism because of this perception
that the entire state is closed," said Mrs Fox.
 Huge
areas of woodland have been destroyed
The governor's closure order limits most recreational activities.
"Yellowstone
and Glacier (parks) are still open, but they are still seeing
tourism drop," she said.
Wildfires
are also raging in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, Oregon,
Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
The biggest
inferno - dubbed "Clear Creek" by firefighters - has
incinerated much of Idaho's Salmon-Challis National Forest.
Meanwhile
in Montana, the "Valley Complex" blaze has destroyed
a huge swathe of the Bitterroot National Forest.
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