MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with those fires out West. For the latest, we will be going shortly to our man out there. President Clinton's point man on disasters, James Lee Witt, is traveling to Montana to focus on the effort to contain those fires. The blazes are now burning across the West, searing 900,000 acres. The fires have claimed the life of a firefighter and injured another. In central Wyoming, flames trapped a firefighter in his truck. Six firefighters have died this year in the Western fires. Some of the worst fires are raging in Montana. We get more now from CNN's Don Knapp.</s>DON KNAPP, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Winds chased much of the smoke that had hung heavy over the Bitter Root Valley for the past several days, stirring up smoldering forests and rekindling still- standing trees. After the smoke cleared, firefighters renewed their air assault on the mountains. Helicopters pulled water from the Bitter Root River and lifted it up into the mountains. A heavy air tanker cruised low over the ridge tops, looking for a target for its load of fire- retardant slurry.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looked pretty scary last night, then this morning it looked better.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're more important than your house.</s>KNAPP: Meanwhile, firefighters on the ground took care of what they say is their first priority, protecting lives. A barrage of lightning strikes overnight created powerful new problems for firefighters. Instruments recorded 21,000 strikes in the most recent storm.</s>STEVE FRYE, INCIDENT COMMANDER: Twenty-one thousand lightning strikes means that we will have many new fires to contend with today and tomorrow and on into the future. I think we're going to be contending with fire in the Western United States into October, certainly, absent a significant change in the weather.</s>KNAPP: The first of an expected 500 additional firefighters have begun to arrive. Fire bosses say there is plenty of work to go around. Don Knapp, CNN, near Darby, Montana.
Western Fires Sear 900,000 Acres