The Nation - News from July 31, 1988

An army of 1,000 firefighters contained an arson-caused timber fire on the edge of Rapid City, S.D., that destroyed at least 15 homes, 42 outbuildings and more than 40 vehicles and forced about 2,000 people from their homes. Property losses were estimated at $1.3 million, and it cost at least $1 million to extinguish the fire, officials said. At Yellowstone National Park, five blazes remained active, but the tide appeared to be turning in favor of firefighters. The fires had burned 107,000 acres in the 2.2-million-acre park. Dozens of lightning fires continued to rampage over nearly 1.5 million acres of Alaska public lands. The biggest was a 409,000-acre black spruce fire 60 miles north of Fairbanks. Fires also continued in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and Washington state.