Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 5 sepTember 2017
National park icons threatened by wind-frenzied wildfires

A fire in Montana’s Glacier torian who worked at the
National Park emptied the lodge for several years in
park’s busiest tourist spot the late 1970s and early
as wind gusts drove the 1980s.
blaze toward the doorstep “These are some of the
of a century old lodge. The most remarkable buildings
14-square-mile (36-square- anywhere in the United
kilometers) fire that con- States and they are an in-
sumed a historic Glacier tegral part of the Glacier
backcountry chalet last experience and the Gla-
week was about a mile cier tradition,” Hufstetler
away from Lake McDonald said. “If they did not exist,
Lodge, a 103-year-old Swiss that experience and that
chalet-style hotel. tradition would not exist,
The lodge’s setting on the either.”
lake as the Going-to-the- Fire crews understood the
Sun-Road begins its vertigo- significance of the lodge
inducing climb up the Con- and were ready to protect
tinental Divide has made it it, said fire information offi-
an endearing park symbol cer Diane Sine.
for many visitors, and it’s “It’s important to all of us
the jumping-off point for and a very high priority to
hikes, boat rides, horse- do whatever we can to
With a precautionary face mask protecting her from the smoky air, Kathleen Soza pays a visit to back riding and tours in preserve that,” she said.
Skinner Butte Park in Eugene, Ore. with family and friends Monday Sept. 4, 2017, as smoke from old-fashioned buses known Outside California’s Yo-
nearby wildfires cause health concerns for area residents. as jammers. semite National Park, a
(Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard via AP) Rangers evacuated tour- wind-fueled fire on Sunday
By MATT VOLZ around Glacier and Yo- area larger than Rhode Is- ists and residents from 55 drove deeper into a grove
SUDHIN THANAWALA semite national parks. land has burned. homes near the lake on of 2,700-year-old giant se-
Associated Press The wind-driven fires, com- The dozens of fires burning Sunday as firefighters laid quoia trees, but officials
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — bined with high tempera- across the West and Cana- hoses and sprinklers around were not immediately sure
Winds wreaked havoc on tures and dry conditions, da have blanketed the air the hotel. On Monday, fire whether trees had been
wildfires that were threat- have disrupted holiday with choking smoke from crews got bad news: The killed.
ening two crown jewels of travel and hampered fire- Oregon, where ash fell wind had shifted and gusts Giant sequoias are resil-
the National Park Service fighters across the West on the town of Cascade were driving the fire down ient and can withstand
on Monday, pushing the during a Labor Day week- Lakes, to Colorado, where the mountainside toward low intensity fires, said fire
flames toward manmade end that capped a devas- health officials issued an air the lake’s shores. information officer Anne
and natural icons in and tating summer in which an quality advisory alert. Losing Lake McDonald Grandy. “We don’t know
Lodge on top of the de- the intensity of the fire,” she
struction of Sperry Chalet said. “It could be your stan-
last week would be “un- dard fire that the grove has
imaginably devastating,” experienced for thousands
said Mark Hufstetler, a his- of years.”q

Wildfires across US West force

thousands to flee their homes

By CHRIS WEBER croached by flames near
ELLEN KNICKMEYER Yosemite National Park in
Associated Press California.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wild- A sudden gusty series of
fires forced thousands to rainstorms allowed Los An-
flee their homes across the geles, however, to can-
U.S. West during a swelter- cel evacuation orders for
ing, smoke-shrouded holi- a wildfire that the mayor
day weekend of record called the largest in the
heat. city’s history and sent
The fires Sunday caused beach umbrellas and toy
evacuations in Glacier Na- shovels bouncing down
tional Park in Montana and Southern California beach-
many other parts of the es late Sunday.
West; compelled crews to Los Angeles Mayor Eric
rescue about 140 hikers Garcetti had declared
who had spent the night in a local emergency ear-
the woods after fire broke lier Sunday and Gov. Jerry
out along the popular Co- Brown did the same on the
lumbia River Gorge Trail in state level for Los Angeles
Oregon; and led firefight- County after the wildfire
ers to step up efforts to destroyed three homes
protect a 2,700-year-old and threatened hillside
grove of giant sequoia en- neighborhoods. q