Bush Urges Texans to Stay Calm as Smoke Billows Across State

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. George W. Bush urged Texans not to panic Friday despite clouds of smoke billowing up from raging fires in Mexico and Central America.

State officials extended to the entire state a warning initially aimed only at residents of the Texas coast, urging them to stay indoors because of the contaminated air sweeping in from the south.

“Texas is in a very serious situation, [but] it is not the time for the people of Texas to panic,” Bush told reporters.

Mexico on Friday accepted U.S. aid to fight the fires, which have blanketed parts of both countries with dense haze, a spokeswoman for the foreign secretary’s office said on condition of anonymity.

The aid includes tanker airplanes, helicopters, communications gear and advice from firefighting experts.

As it has for more than a week, smoke turned the air gray over much of Texas as it arrived from up to 1,000 miles away in southeastern Mexico and Central America.

The smoke consists largely of very small particles that health experts say penetrate deeply into lungs and cause problems similar to those suffered by smokers.

Across the state, people took the health warnings to heart and curtailed outdoor activities. Schools canceled outside athletic events.

The fires have raged for weeks, but they only became an international problem when the south winds of summer began pouring smoke across the Rio Grande. At times it has blown all the way to the East Coast.

Mexico said 9,600 fires had burned 1,000 square miles of land.