Army troops mobilized to help fight wildfires

U.S. Army mobilized soldiers on Monday to reinforce civilian firefighters stretched thin by dozens of major wildfires roaring largely unchecked across the West, with more than 100 homes reduced to ruins in several states

Fire managers requested the mobilization - the first of its kind since 2006 - as crews from federal, state and local agencies struggled to contain many of the wildfires that have charred more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of the West amid a heat wave gripping the drought-parched region.

More than 29,000 civilian fire personnel already were deployed throughout the West, most of them on front-line ground crews. Property losses were concentrated in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, with 108 homes confirmed as destroyed among those three states alone since Friday, authorities said.