Reinforcements coming as fire crews stretched thin
Boise, Idaho – Federal land-management agencies are being asked to make more employees available to fight wildfires because crews and equipment have been stretched to the limit by nearly 60 major blazes around the West.
For the first time since 2003, the National Interagency Fire Center over the weekend raised its response status to the highest threat level, a move triggered when nearly all available crews and firefighting resources are committed. It allows federal firefighting coordinators to summon additional federal employees, military reinforcements and foreign fire crews if necessary.
“It frees up what we call the militia – agency employees whose regular job may be as a biologist or realty specialist but who are trained in fire duty and can now be called up to help,” said Randy Eardley, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman at the federal firefighting center in Boise.
More than 24,000 firefighters were working on fires across the West on Monday, including 58 large fires of 500 acres or more.
The biggest active fire in the country was in northern Nevada, where 292 square miles of grass and sagebrush had burned. And more people were told to evacuate Monday from areas south of Chadron, Neb., where fires have scorched more than 90 square miles.
More than 70,600 timber and range fires have burned on federal land so far this year, higher than the 10-year average of 50,984, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn.
Salazar campaigns for struggling Lieberman
U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., campaigned over the weekend in support of embattled U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who faces a tough primary challenge.
Salazar made a pitch for Lieberman in Spanish and English on Sunday at a Pentecostal church.
“Joe Lieberman is a hero of mine and someone who has inspired me,” said Salazar, one of the first Latinos in the U.S. Senate.
He said Lieberman believes in equal protection and equal opportunity for everyone, including immigrants.
Lieberman is locked in a tight contest with Democratic challenger Ned Lamont, who questions the 18-year incumbent’s support for the Iraq war.
Salazar has long-standing political ties to Lieberman, who supported the Coloradan in his 2004 Senate bid.
WASHINGTON
Shirtless man climbs White House fence
A man wearing no shoes or shirt and carrying no identification tried to climb over the White House fence Monday evening, the Secret Service said.
Spokesman Eric Zahren said agents arrested 30-year-old Michael Talley, a Washington resident with no permanent address, about 6:50 p.m. EDT, before he reached the top of the fence. He will be charged with unlawful entry, a misdemeanor in the District of Columbia.
President Bush was in the White House at the time.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Man inspecting listing ship hits head, dies
A member of a salvage team examining a listing, abandoned ship in the Aleutians slipped and suffered a fatal blow to his head, the Coast Guard said Monday.
The four-member salvage team was preparing to leave the Cougar Ace when the naval architect lost his footing Sunday.
He was pronounced dead about an hour later, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Sara Francis.
“They were on the covered main deck, and he slid down a considerable distance, somewhere in the range of 80 feet,” said Charles Nalen, vice president of environmental-safety quality assurance for Crowley Maritime, owner of Titan Salvage Members.
“For some reason, he became disconnected from the safety line,” Nalen said.
His name was being withheld until relatives could be notified.
The 654-foot ship is loaded with nearly 5,000 cars. Its 23 crew members were hoisted to safety July 24 after the ship started taking on water. Officials believe it rolled while the crew was adjusting the ballast tank.
BALTIMORE
Missing boy found slain; suspect arrested
An 11-year-old boy missing since last week was found slain early Monday on a golf course near his home, and a twice-convicted child sex offender was arrested in his death, police said.
Hours after finding the body of Irvin Harris, police arrested Melvin Jones Jr., 52, inside a fast- food restaurant after they got a tip that he was there. He was to be charged with murder.
Col. Fred Bealefeld, the department’s chief of detectives, described Jones as a Harris family friend and said there was “every indication” that Irvin’s mother knew about Jones’ 2002 conviction for having sex with a teenage boy.
Irvin was reportedly last seen by his family Friday about noon, when he left for his summer job at a nearby grocery store.
SEOUL, South Korea
Soldiers fire shots across Korean border
Soldiers from North and South Korea exchanged fire along their border late Monday but no one was hurt, said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The clash happened just before sunset when North Korean soldiers fired two bullets toward a South Korean guard post in the eastern part of the Demilitarized Zone, and South Korean soldiers fired back six rounds, Maj. Kim Tae-Hoon said. He said South Korea doesn’t know what prompted the North troops to open fire.
