Article: TINDER-DRY UNDERBRUSH, LIGHTNING STRIKES SCORCH PACIFIC NORTHW EST PACIFIC NORTHWEST BLANKETED BY FIRE AND SMOKE.(Main)

Byline: William R. Greer

For three weeks firefighters have been using hand-held computers, infrared mapping and satellite dish antennas to battle a wave of thousands of wildfires in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon.

But the fires have burned on despite their efforts, blackening entire river valleys and sweeping through the mountains, destroying an area the size of Rhode Island.

"The number of large fires has just been overwhelming," said Marvin E. Newell, a forest fire specialist at the Boise Interagency Fire Center, the national wildfire coordination center.

The 6,724 fires that have burned in the area since Aug. 2 have forced ...

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