Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

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U.S. NEWS Thursday 7 sepTember 2017

Wildfire-weary Western US coughs through late-season surge

By STEVEN DUBOIS lumbia River Gorge. Missoulian newspaper. “I size to 68 square miles (175 Monastery of St. Gertrude
Associated Press Officials expect the fire don’t think it would have square kilometers) and can normally see across
The smoke, the flames, the near Brookings to burn for affected me the way it is closed all backcountry an entire prairie to the
aching lungs, the evacua- at least another month. now if I’d not seen the fire.” trails on the east side of the Bitterroot Mountains.But
tions. They’re summertime The weather is a wild card It has burned 10 homes iconic park.Steffen Rausch they were hard-pressed
facts of life in the U.S. West, in a region accustomed to and 30 other buildings and told Seattle news station Wednesday to see the
where every wildfire sea- rain and fog. If it’s hot and threatened a commu- KIRO-TV that he was sad- road leading to the mon-
son competes with memo- dry, it will be a scary Sep- nity on the western shore dened the fire closed 70 astery in the city of Cotton-
ries of previous destruction. tember. of Lake Koocanusa on miles of the Pacific Crest wood amid heavy smoke.
This year was supposed to “We don’t know what the Wednesday. Some 187 res- Trail, which runs from “Everything is just a big
be mild after an extremely weather’s going to do, and idents have fled West Koo- Canada to Mexico, near haze,” Sister Placida Wem-
wet winter and spring but hoff said. “Our eyes smart
has ended up one of the and sting.”
worst in U.S. history in land Cottonwood had the un-
burned. The foliage that wanted distinction of hav-
sprouted from previous rain ing the worst air quality
and snow has gone bone- in the nation for much of
dry in intense heat, feeding Wednesday, the Environ-
flames in places that have mental Protection Agency
not seen downpours in said.Wemhoff would nor-
months and strangling cit- mally be putting the flow-
ies with smoke. erbeds to rest for the winter
The biggest fires came a lit- but had to halt the work.
tle later than usual in some Most of the nuns are older
states, after Labor Day, and particularly at risk from
when the fire season tradi- the hazardous air quality.
tionally starts to peter out. “The sisters are trying to
A look at the fires: avoid heavy work where
you puff and pant,” Wem-
OREGON hoff said.Idaho’s largest
It’s been weeks since Mary- wildfire is being allowed
jane Carlson has been able to burn in a rugged wil-
to relax. derness area. Authorities
The artist lives in Brookings, Cascade Locks, Ore., nestled in tall fir trees alongside the Columbia River, is inundated by smoke say they plan to protect
a small city along the south- from the nearby Eagle Creek wildfire Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. The growing blaze east of Portland bridges, a ranch, and
in the scenic Columbia River Gorge was one of dozens of wildfires in the U.S. West that sent smoke
ern Oregon coast that’s into cities from Seattle to Denver. other high-value sites that
threatened by one of the (AP Photo/Randy L. Rasmussen) could be threatened
nation’s largest wildfires. by the 110-square-mile
Carlson and her neighbors half the problem is that un- tenai, with most staying Mount Rainier. (285-square-kilometer)
never know when the blaze certainty,” Carlson said. with families on the lake’s “Because if you are go- blaze.
is going to move closer to eastern shore or in recre- ing to do PCT, you want
the wooded town. MONTANA ational vehicles. to do as much of the PCT UTAH
“It’s overwhelming,” she Darinda Yoder wishes she It’s among dozens of fires as you can,” said Rausch, Nearly 200 homes in a high-
said Wednesday. “It’s kind had not waited so long to that have forced people a German who had hiked end neighborhood nestled
of like living in a war zone.” evacuate her home near from their homes, de- from the Mexico border to in the foothills near a north-
In addition to the fear of Montana’s border with stroyed residences and Washington. ern Utah canyon were
the flames, smoke never Canada. filled the sky with smoke for Rangers worked to alert evacuated Wednesday as
leaves. An asthmatic, Carl- If she had left earlier, she months statewide. hikers to leave the area. crews battled a blaze that
son had to buy an air puri- would not have the ter- Some campers were told has burned three houses.
fier and sometimes covers rifying memory of flames WASHINGTON to have their gear packed. Calmer winds allowed
her face with a mask. rushing down a mountain Local recreationists and Smoke swathed areas from firefighters to stop the
Thousands of residents toward the state’s old- tourists mourned damage Seattle to Spokane, where 1-square-mile (2.5-square-
have evacuated as fire- est Amish community this to popular hiking trails and the air Wednesday was kilometer) fire from spread-
fighters battle blazes state- weekend. campsites from a wildfire rated as hazardous. ing toward more homes
wide, including one dev- “The fire came down so near Mount Rainier Nation- in the city of Ogden, said
astating hiking trails and fast they almost didn’t al Park. IDAHO Rachelle Handley of the
waterfalls in the scenic Co- get us out,” Yoder told the It more than doubled in Catholic nuns living at the U.S. Forest Service.