LUFKIN, Texas (AP) -- Searchers expect to be looking for debris from the space shuttle Columbia in the woods of East Texas for several more weeks, a federal official said Tuesday.
``I think it's indicative that we're in the for long haul,'' said Bob Miller, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman.
Searchers have been poring over the thick forests _ turning up thousands of bits of debris _ since the shuttle broke apart over Texas on Feb. 1.
Officials hope to begin replacing National Guard members who have been helping with the searches with federal firefighting crews. Just four fire crews are searching now, but Miller said he expects to have 30 to 40 of the 20-member fire crews on the job eventually. They will come from the Southeast.
Miller said searchers have identified 1,400 debris sites in Sabine County, 950 of which have been precisely located by satellite positioning. About 450 sites have been cleared, Miller said. Searchers were concentrating on an area about 1 1/2 miles wide by 30 miles long.
While the sky was clear Tuesday, rain was forecast later in the week.
``Every day of rain is a day when materials potentially get harder to find,'' Miller said.
Also Tuesday, divers were expected to return to the Toledo Bend Reservoir stretching along the Texas-Louisiana state line. They pulled a piece of metal from the water Monday, but it wasn't immediately identified as a piece of the shuttle. A 32-foot Coast Guard boat was expected to be brought in Tuesday.
On Monday, a Harrison County constable accused of taking space shuttle debris was arrested, showing how serious officials are about recovering debris.
``This is ... a perfect illustration that no one is above the law,'' Nacogdoches County Sheriff Thomas Kerss said after the arrest of Constable Robert Hagan II.
Officials accuse Hagan, 45, of taking a piece of tile and other debris while helping with the recovery effort Feb. 1-2 in the Nacogdoches area, U.S. Attorney Matthew Orwig said.
Court documents indicate Hagan showed two of the items _ a piece of Styrofoam-looking material and a bolt _ to Harrison County Deputy Sheriff Brad Thomas, claiming he was allowed to keep them.
When authorities confronted Hagan, he said he had a small piece in the front seat of his car but nothing else. A search of the vehicle revealed a paper bag in the trunk containing five pieces of debris, officials said.
Hagan said he had permission to keep the debris, but he could not remember who told him, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Hagan was released Monday on $5,000 bail. A preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 27.
Also Monday, more parts of the shuttle and perhaps human remains were found.
Officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency called Monday for a renewed search for debris, especially in Sabine, San Augustine, Nacogdoches, Cherokee, Anderson, Henderson and Navarro counties.
Searchers have been concentrating on Sabine County, southeast of Nacogdoches, where NASA has calculated that most of the human remains should be found.
