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 COLFAX, Wash. (AP) - Thousands of firefighters battling large wildfires in eastern Washington got an extra boost from a DC-10 jetliner capable of dropping as much as eight times more fire retardant than usual air tankers.
The plane, which flies 200 to 300 feet above the flames, had been on standby for most of the day waiting for skies to clear above more than 100 square miles of fires near Dayton.
About 50 miles southwest of Colfax, firefighters from Alaska joined others Friday from Arizona, Oregon and New Mexico battling the fires that have spread over huge areas of wheat fields, grasslands, brush and timber.
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