Lightning Sets Off More Fires in Oregon, Idaho; Homes Periled

New lightning storms Thursday ignited another rash of forest and range fires in Oregon and Idaho, threatening mountain homes and adding to flames that have scorched 120,000 acres across the Northwest.

“The fire came right over the top of the hill like an army of British troops,” Mike Irving said as he used a garden hose to spray flames that crept within 50 feet of his house near Boise, Ida.

The region has been hit by more than 73,000 lightning strikes in the last two days, said Jack Sept, a spokesman for the Boise Interagency Fire Center. “They are causing quite a lot of concern, and more thunderstorms are predicted with still more hot weather,” he said.

4,000 Battling Blazes

More than 4,000 firefighters were on the lines. Scattered fires were still burning primarily in northeast Oregon and southwest Idaho, but blazes in northeast Washington were contained.

Lightning started at least 17 new fires in Idaho on Thursday, threatening homes in the mountains and sagebrush land surrounding Boise. “The reports are coming in faster than we can man them,” Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Clair Baldwin said.

The lightning also set off eight new blazes on bureau rangelands in southeast Oregon, where more than 40,000 acres have been blackened by fires this week.

The largest of those fires spread rapidly and covered about 7,500 acres. Others ranged from 150 acres to more than 1,000 acres, bureau spokesman Bill Keil said.

‘Fire Danger Is Critical’

“The weather is still lousy,” Keil said. “Fire danger is critical over there. It is very dry. It is just bad.”