Clinton Inspects Wildfire Damage

President Clinton is inspecting the smoky wildfires in the West on Tuesday and talking with weary firefighters who have blistered feet and bloodshot eyes from battling blazes that have ravaged an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.

Clinton's visit to the Payette National Forest in west-central Idaho comes 26 days after a fire broke out there, scorching 23,000 acres -- so far -- of rugged, steep forestland. It is one of 65 fires burning more than 826,800 acres in 10 states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho.

An estimated 20,000 military and civilian firefighters are working to contain blazes in Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Arizona, California, Colorado and Montana -- the hardest hit by wildfires in the West.

After taking a helicopter ride to view the damage, Clinton was to have lunch and make remarks to some of the 1,276 people working to contain the fire here near McCall, Idaho. The federal firefighters work for the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and Fish and Wildlife Service. There also are federal contract workers and about 600 soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas.

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