Nation IN BRIEF : THE WEST : Heat, Storms Spark Dozens of Wildfires

Western wildfires spread by warm, dry winds burned across parts of four states, from the deserts of Arizona to Rocky Mountain forests. Record-breaking heat and electrical storms combined to spark dozens of fires. In Colorado, a 900-acre wildfire west of Ft. Collins threatened a group of homes. In Arizona, dozens of wildfires sparked by lightning had blackened nearly 80,000 acres. Arizona Gov. Fife Symington asked the federal government to declare a state of emergency. A helicopter pilot was in critical condition after his aircraft crashed while ferrying supplies to fire crews in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson. Meanwhile, two Idaho range fires spread across more than 40,000 acres, but firefighters were gaining control of both. Two smaller lightning-sparked forest fires burned in Southern California.