As forest fires in the American west - described as the worst in 50 years - continue to rage, President Clinton has announced that he will visit one of the worst hit states, Idaho, tomorrow.
Mr Clinton will tour the area and speak to some of the 1,500 soldiers who have been sent in to help exhausted civilian fire-fighters. He may announce extra government assistance to fight the fires.
Two hundred Canadian firefighters have arrived in the US to help and reinforcements from Mexico and as far away as Australia are also being considered.
The situation has been made worse by the drought conditions in much of the western states, such as Montana, Idaho, Washington, California, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. The lightning accompanying the seasonal thunderstorms is setting off new fires at a frightening rate. On one night last week in Montana, lightning started 200 fires.
The Bureau of Land Management has warned that individual homes will be allowed to burn in areas where the stretched firefighters are working to protect residential communities and prevent new fires from becoming what are called "crew gobblers".
Some 70 large fires are reported to be burning across the west on about 750,000 acres, according to the National Fire Information Centre based in Boise, Idaho.
So far this year, more than 62,000 wildfires, mostly in the west, have burned almost four million acres.
The Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Ms Sylvia Baca, has called it the worst fire season in 50 years.
The military is being called upon to help fight fires and release the more experienced 20,000 civilian firefighters for the more serious fires.
The first soldiers were rushed from Fort Hood, Texas, and sent to the front line after two days of rudimentary training on how to fight fires.
The 600 soldiers were shown how to cut fire lines, dig ditches and create escape routes. Another 500 troops, as well as several hundred marines from Camp Pendleton, California, have been sent to join the soldiers in Idaho.
In Montana, more than 300 homes have been evacuated in the Bitterroot Valley. Another 300 evacuations may be necessary in the Hamilton area in the south-west of the state.
Homes on the Flathead Indian reservation are threatened.