On his return from the American Mid-West, former Sports Editor of the Nothern Echo, Jeff Todhunter reports on the devastating natural phenomenon which has set a nation on edge - the wildfire.

FIREFIGHTING teams have worked ceaselessly to extinguish the blazes consuming vast tracts of the American Mid-West. But despite their best efforts, it seems only nature can put out the wildfires. And nature, in the tinder-dry states of Colorado, Utah and Arizona, is withholding its most precious asset - water.

For only rain will extinguish the blazes that have already consumed hundreds of thousands of forested acres and forced the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes. Man and his modern fire-fighting techniques can at the most only contain the flames that sometimes advance at a mile an hour.

The fire states have been hit by drought. Colorado's main source of natural water is not rain but snow melt off the mighty Rockies, but rain and snowfall since last autumn have been only a quarter of normal.

Reservoirs, both for fire-fighting and for human consumption, are very low and rivers are drying up. Fire risk in the national parks ranges from very high to extreme. Smoking there is allowed only inside buildings.

In the state capital of Denver, hotels were asking guests if, to save water, they would use towels for longer than usual to save laundering them.

Water restrictions were also in force on gardens, and many fountains, already using recycled water, were switched off. And, as the smoke from the Hayman fire, the state's biggest ever, shrouded the mile-high city like mist and cut off views of the Rockies, the aged and ill were urged not to leave their homes, and others given breathing advice.

State and Federal money was running out, and some firefighters were withdrawn, leaving fires burning and the worrying question of what happens if the winds changed or increased.

On the Thursday night, it thundered and rained, but not for long. The storms passed to the North, fires continued and the Arizona Show Lo fire later started. Rain is desperately needed.

Thankfully, the fires haven't truly threatened any big city (although Denver, with its two-million-plus population is the only sizeable place for hundreds of miles), and, although TV tends to pay rather panicky attention to them, only about 30 houses had actually been destroyed by the time I left.

Many locals recognise the fires for what they are - natural occurrences. Lightning is responsible for most wild fires, and they are essential for the regeneration of the beautiful forests: ponderosa pineseeds, for example, start growing only after a fire has burned them.

And passing through areas burned last year, it was amazing how quickly some were recovering, green leaves growing out of blackened branches, undergrowth and grass springing healthily, if parched.

The fires raise two conflicting camps. One, mainly urban, is disturbed that people who choose a freer lifestyle and scenic views to city living should be threatened.

Others are on the side of the wilderness. A foreman of a 250,000-acre ranch who watched fires threaten his workplace and home last year. says: "These fires are natural, and if you choose to live in the wilderness you have to accept them as part of that wilderness. It's no good crying. You can rebuild a house. You shouldn't come here and expect it to be all nice and civilised like a city."

But the fires are just part of the perils preying on American minds. With September 11 still very fresh and the Fourth of July imminent, almost anything connected with terrorism receives massive TV attention.

The innocent incursion last week of a light plane into the White House air space amazingly highlighted the fact that Air Force interceptors could not have got to it in time had its intentions been murderous. And, at a live TV press conference about it, the Presidential Press aide was startled to have the fact made public by one reporter that an unused bullet had been found in White House grounds as the FBI cleared them.

And TV seems almost delighted to press the panic button about the Fourth of July, America's best-known day of celebration. CNN believes something nasty could happen then, and appears to take an almost ghoulish delight in reminding viewers.

In a vast land, security is difficult, but even September 11 has only partially improved it. At Denver Airport, nearly as big as Heathrow, security on international and internal flights was strict. My wife and I were searched thoroughly; we had to remove our shoes and had our bags opened each of the four times we used it.

At San Antonio, Texas, security varied. At the airport it was light; at the Greyhound bus terminal, strict. At Laredo, haunt of criminals, we walked into and out of Mexico without being accosted by Customs and got on another Greyhound bus with just a flash of a ticket.

America the Beautiful is burning and bothered.