Nation in brief

Jeep crash kills race spectator

PILOT, N.C. - A mud-racing Jeep crashed through a chain-link fence into a crowd of spectators, killing one woman and injuring her daughter and 19 others.

The victim's name was being withheld until family members were notified, Franklin County Sheriff Jerry Jones said Sunday. Her daughter was in critical condition with a head injury, and another woman suffered two broken legs. Driver A.J. McCoy, 28, was not hurt, Jones said.

McCoy was driving a Jeep Wrangler in a "mudsling" event Saturday night, a straight-line course in a mud pit about the length of a football field, Jones said.

"He was full throttle when he came out of that pit," said Tommy Floyd, a firefighter who was in the audience.

The Jeep completed the course but then kept going, finally stopping on top of the downed fence.

Hugh Williams, the track owner, said he talked to McCoy after the accident.

"There's no question the throttle was just stuck open," Williams said. "He said he patted it and patted it and he just couldn't do anything."

The sheriff said he would meet Monday with the district attorney to discuss possible charges.

Jones estimated 300 to 500 people were at the track, about 25 miles east of Raleigh.

MISSOULA, Mont. - Firefighters found at least two burned houses Sunday in the ashes of a wildfire that surged across more than 3,600 rural acres in two hours and forced hundreds of people to evacuate.

Winds up to 55 mph pushed the fire to 5,200 acres Saturday night.

"All you can do at that point is just get out of the way," said Mike Litterst, a fire information officer.

Litterst said people at more than 130 homes about nine miles south of Missoula were forced to evacuate, and those at about 120 others were asked to leave voluntarily. The evacuated areas remained closed Sunday as crews surveyed the burned-over areas for damage.

Erratic winds Saturday night fanned about 24 fires burning more than 200,000 acres in parched forests in almost every area of the state.

The flare-ups forced firefighters to shift equipment around to cover more fires, including one west of Billings that they thought was contained.

"This is a pretty desperate thing, to be shuffling crews like this," fire official Scott Vail said.

Another fire about 20 miles southeast of Missoula grew almost 5,000 acres Saturday and was estimated Sunday at 13,000 acres.

Windy weather also revived a fire east of Big Timber in south-central Montana that firefighters had declared contained just hours earlier.

"Under those conditions, it was: Fire 1, Firefighters 0," said Pat McKelvey, a fire information officer.

MARINE GETS 14 MONTHS FOR PURCHASES: A Marine received 14 months in a military brig for using a military credit card for an unauthorized six-figure shopping spree that included a car, a motorcycle and breast enhancement surgery.

Staff Sgt. Sherry Pierre worked for Marine Forces Reserve Headquarters Command in New Orleans when she made $129,709 in improper purchases in 2000 and 2001, officials said.

Pierre pleaded guilty to stealing from the government in a court-martial proceeding held in New Orleans in June, Capt. Jeff Pool, a spokesman for the Reserve, confirmed Sunday.

The verdict is on appeal, a process Pool said occurs automatically in such courts-martial.

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