Arsonist Fires Blacken Vast Areas in East

Fatigued forest rangers chased more arsonist-torched wildfires across the tinder-dry Blue Ridge Mountains today and authorities outside Detroit had to evacuate a bank building that was threatened by advancing flames.

Nearly 600,000 acres of woodlands have burned in 13 states from New England to the Southeast in the last 10 days and officials estimated the losses--including timber, wildlife, recreational use and water quality--at $1,000 per acre.

“If we don’t get some rain soon, those figures are going to start climbing,” Georgia Forestry Commission spokesman Jack Long said.

The blazes have also claimed the lives of at least four people. Convicts, Job Corps members and volunteers have joined professional firefighters on the lines.

Rain on the Way

Showers were forecast for the New England states today, but forecasters said no rain was expected in the parched Southeastern states until this weekend.

Forestry officials said arsonists were responsible for many of the blazes, especially in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia, and conceded it was tough to catch them.

“Most arsonists will set more than one fire,” Virginia forestry spokesman Lou Southard said. “It is difficult, but not impossible to catch them.

“An arsonist will come back and establish a pattern after a while,” Southard said, “but the problem in southwest Virginia is that we have more than one.”

In Michigan, two brush fires fanned by high winds spread through 70 acres of Macomb County near Detroit, threatening several homes and forcing the evacuation of a bank building.

There were no injuries in either fire.