from across the country are on the front lines of this intense battle. what began last monday, as four small fires sparked by lightning exploded into a mass inferno, now scorching more than 380 square miles, roughly four times the size of seattle. some of the clearest pictures of the fire coming by drone. flames wiping out railroad lines. leveling some homes but sparing others. warren smethers lost his dream home that he purchased just three weeks ago. i try to keep looking on the positive side. i ve been in tears. reporter: with dozens of fires burning in the northwest, it has taken days for fire crews to get enough manpower. now, these blackhawk helicopters are making strategic water drops while crews on the ground dig through the blackened earth to build critical fire lines. and the military is pitching in, too. c-130 airplanes, seen here in prior missions, are standing by at the ready. all that s left of this home is the chimney.
there s only two populated areas within this. brewster and pateras. even the evacuation center, which was in pateros, had to be evacuated. we lost a lot of homes there yesterday. in total, 100-plus homes lost or damaged. 1,000 or so evacuations in total. this fire is only 2% contained. the forecast for today again almost like yesterday, near 90 degrees. what s important for the firefighters, yesterday they had gusts of 40, 50 miles per hour. the winds will be much lighter today. they re hoping to get those fire lines down and protect the homes that are still endangered. otherwise, hot weather returns to the midwest. we re watching 90s, even as hot as 100 in nebraska. this will lead to very large thunderstorms and dangerous storms in the northern plains.
county. one person did die trying to save his home from the flames. some 35 hot shot crews are on the fire lines right now. they may get a break from the weather with cooler temperatures and lighter winds in the forecast. time for an early start on your money. fares of gaza and malaysian airlines putting a damper on stocks. european shares down this morning. asian shares also ending the day mostly lower. look at the u.s. stock futures, they are pointing lower. historically, shares have bounced back after global disasters. we are seeing that now. the dow almost gained back all that was lost on thursday. disasters like this one cause short term uncertainty. investors don t see a long term impact. throughout the course of history, it s short term. the trader short term reacts to things like what s happening in
when we look at the weather condition, we have alaska. you and i have been talking about the fire in arizona all week. where did this alaska fire come from, if you will? there s always a lot of fires in alaska but they re not near a lot of structures. again, the weather conditions up there today, it will be a little breezy, about 60 degree, not as hot and windy and dry as arizona. even on this memorial day, they ll be out there working the fire lines. as far as the stormy weather goes, one strong storm continues just to the northwest of victoria texas. they are at a horrible drought, they are welcoming the rain from lubbock up to amarillo. you don t want severe weather but you want the rainfall.
command center in flagstaff. this is a shame because this is one gorgeous area. reporter: tough to see such a beautiful place burning, carol. and firefighters are just now going back out to the fire lines. we re seeing a lot of activity. you might remember this parking lot behind me was full before the break but all these crews just wrapped up with their morning briefing. we were there. we got mostly good news. with he see crews from six different states out here helping in this fight. nearly 1,000 firefighters. this morning conditions are good. you see me wearing a jacket. cooler conditions. humidity is up. the smoke plume much smaller because winds have died down. crucial hours in the next few hours still just 5% contained as these fire crews work to save hundreds of homes. the dry conditions throughout the region are textbook for fires to burn out of control. fire gets into steep terrain with heavy fuels and wind