Southeast Fires Cloak N.Y. in Smoke; Firefighter Dies

Smoke from forest fires in the Southeast spread as far north as Boston and Upstate New York Sunday, reducing visibility and causing problems for people with respiratory difficulties.

The National Guard was called out over the weekend in Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky to help weary fire crews. More than 6,000 firefighters battled the flames Sunday, and one of them reportedly died of a heart attack while fighting a blaze in Laurel County, Ky.

Rain from a cold front that extended from the Great Lakes to South Texas was expected to dampen fire areas in drought-plagued Kentucky and West Virginia and other parts of the South and Southeast today, but forecasters warned that the moisture may be insufficient and accompanying winds may fan the flames.

Won’t Help Much

The tenth of an inch forecast for Kentucky is not enough to make much difference, said Forest Service spokesman Charlie Crail, stationed at Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest.

“That . . . might help a little bit, but as soon as the winds pick up again, all the effect of it would be over with,” Crail said.

High winds and arsonists made a bad situation worse Sunday. At least 189,000 acres of woodlands have been destroyed since Oct. 27, the U.S. Forest Service said. Authorities blamed arson for about one-third of the thousands of fires reported in the last month.

The Forest Service office in Atlanta, which is coordinating the battle to contain the flames, could not estimate the monetary damage. But in West Virginia alone more than 135,000 acres of woods had burned, with damage placed at $40.5 million.

New fires Sunday kept firefighters hopping on fire lines from North Carolina to Mississippi. Hardest hit was eastern Tennessee, where high winds and arsonists rekindled old fires, state forester Dwight Barnet said. Heavy fire damage also was reported in Kentucky, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. Fires also flared in Virginia, South Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Reduced Visibility

A heavy brown pall of smoke hung low over New York City, reducing visibility at Kennedy, Newark and La Guardia airports, the National Weather Service said.

“People are complaining it’s affecting their breath,” said Bob Stalker of the weather service in New York City. Dozens of people in New Jersey called a state hot line to ask about the smelly haze, said state Trooper Eric Sorchik.

Visibility was cut to 2 1/2 miles at the airport at Albany, N.Y., down from a normal 45 miles on a bright fall day, said meteorologist Stephen Pertgen. Smoke showed up as a light haze as far away as Boston.

In West Virginia, the smoke was so thick in some southern counties during the weekend that visibility fell below 100 feet. Firefighters could not tell the location or the severity of new fires because they could not see them, said acting state forester Ralph Glover.

Smoke was partly blamed for a traffic accident on the West Virginia Turnpike that killed one person Saturday, authorities said.

Guard Called Out

Virginia Gov. Gerald L. Baliles called out the National Guard on Sunday. Two Guard helicopters were sent to dump water on 2,500 acres on fire in southwest Virginia.

Volunteers swarmed over southern West Virginia, including crews from the United Mine Workers union. In Logan County, district ranger Steve Upton said 17 college students from Hocking Tech in Ohio arrived Friday. But officials at Chapmanville High School put a halt to excusing students to fight fires.

In addition, federal firefighting crews had been brought in from Western states.

A 2,500-acre blaze in eastern Kentucky reached the city limits of Paintsville and burned right up to back yards in some subdivisions Sunday, but no houses were reported destroyed.