Hundreds of Californians flee
as major wildfire approaches
Yosemite blaze 1
of 32 major fires
burning in West
BY COLLEEN VALLES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SONORA, Calif. — Hundreds of
residents evacuated homes near
Yosemite National Park on
Wednesday as wind fanned a wild
fire that was one of 32 major fires
burning in the West.
Four of the most active fires
had burned more than 53,000 acres
in northern California, but in Ore
gon and Washington rain helped
firefighters get the upper hand.
The 32 major fires counted
Wednesday afternoon were down
from 42 the day before, said Rob
Kopack of the National Intera
gency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
“It’s still very dicey in the
Northwest right now. But there
has been some progress,” Kopack
said. "California has not had re
lief from weather.”
The fire outside Yosemite had
burned 11,500 acres and closed
some roads leading into the park.
More than 400 residents fled their
homes and four homes burned. In
vestigators believe the fire was
caused by arson.
Many residents fled to Red
Cross shelters.
"It’s probably the worst fire
we’ve ever seen, and I’ve been
here 42 years,” said Joan Tune, a
Red Cross volunteer and resident
of the threatened town of Coulter
ville. She called the fire "mon
strous ... a great ball of black and
green and white smoke.”
Lower temperatures in the mid
80s and higher humidity were ex
pected Wednesday, but the area
was still at risk, said Dennis Cross
of the state Department of
“It’s probably the worst fire we’ve ever seen, and
I’ve been here 42 years.”
JOAN TUNE
RED CROSS VOLUNTEER
Forestry.
"There’s no turning point yet,”
he said. "The fire continued to
jump lines that were already in
place.”
About 80 miles northwest, a
3,800-acre wildfire kept about 50
evacuees in a Red Cross shelter set
up in a high school.
The major fires active Wednes
day throughout the West had
blackened 331,000 acres - roughly
half the size of the state of Rhode
Island, Kopack said. The total
Tuesday was closer to 350,000.
A wave of cool air and rain
moved into western Washington
and Oregon and helped firefight
ers gain ground on fires there.
But in front of the rain, high
winds fanned a 73,000-acre fire in
northeastern Washington. About
60 homes in the fire’s path were
saved by air tanker water drops.
Near the mountain resort town
of Leavenworth, firefighters were
still trying to encircle a 7,200-acre
complex of fires and extinguish
hot spots.
In Montana, winds threatened
to spread a 3,000-acre blaze near
the tiny town of Emigrant. Resi
dents in the mountains north of
Yellowstone National Park were
warned to prepare to evacuate if
the fire grew.
NASCAR report I
says belt one facto!
in Earnhardt deathl
BY JENNA FRYER
AP SPORTS WRITER
ATLANTA — Dale Earnhardt’s
broken seat belt was one of many
factors that contributed to the
death of the auto racing great,
NASCAR said Tuesday in re
leasing its report on the wreck.
The six-month investigation
found the seatbelt, the collision
with another car and angle and
impact in which Earnhardt hit
the wall all played a role in the
Feb. 18 crash on the final lap pf
the Daytona 500.
In its report, NASCAR said
that beginning next season it
will install “black boxes” in cars,
similar to flight-data recorders
on airplanes, to help understand
the forces during crashes and
improve safety.
However, NASCAR will not
require drivers to wear head and
neck restraints, although it said
their use would be encourag
Earnhardt was not wear
such a restraint when he \
killed, but NASCAR said it \
unclear whether the HANS
vice would have saved him. 1
of the devices has dramatic;
increased since his crash; 4
43 drivers wore them in St
day’s race.
NASCAR president Mike I
ton said NASCAR will use ct
puter models to design safer c;
and will be involved in testing
race track barriers. Howev
the report itself contained no r
ommendations on changes
cars or barriers.
Dr. James Raddin, one of t
lead investigators, said the ct
elusion of the report is th
"there were a number of fact;
in which the timing came I
gether” to cause Earnhard
death..
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For more info contact Baptist Student Union
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Saturday 4:30 p.m.
Sunday 11:00 a.m.and 7:30 p.m.
Daily Mass
Monday - Wednesday & Friday 12:15 p.m.
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Monday, 7:00 p.m.
Newman Club Bible Study
Tuesday 7:00 p.m. Wednesday 7:00 p.m.
Rev. Tim Lijewski, Chaplain and Campus Minister
Gaurav Shroff, Director of Christian Formation
1610 Greene Street 799-5870 (across from the School of Nursing)
webpage - http://www.stthomasmore.org
email: tlijewski@aol.com
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