Western States Continue to Battle Fires

Fire bosses called for reinforcements Thursday to battle a forest fire threatening several small towns in Washington, and an air attack held back a blaze that threatened a rural community in Oregon.

Firefighters in hard-hit Idaho, where flames have raked 235,000 acres of grass, brush and forest since July 31, encircled several major blazes.

Since July 31, fires have raced across an estimated 384,000 acres in the West, including California, Colorado and Utah, where flames had largely been extinguished Thursday.

The Boise Interagency Fire Center, a command and resource center for various state and federal agencies, said up to 11,000 firefighters and support personnel were on the fire lines Thursday.

The center issued red flag fire danger warnings for western Utah, because of wind lightning strikes without rain, and for western Wyoming, southern Idaho and southeastern Oregon, which expected high temperatures, low humidity and wind.

About 1,200 people worked through the night in south-central Washington to dig fire lines and protect homes in the path of the Skookum fire, burning in grass and timber just outside Klickitat, about 145 miles southeast of Seattle, said state Department of Natural Resources spokesman Nick Mickel.

Among the firefighters being sent into the Northwest were 25 crews of 20 men each from Arizona, said Joyce Hassell, spokeswoman for Tonto National Forest. Fire danger is reduced in Arizona this year because the state has received nearly three times its normal rainfall.

The 3,000-acre Skookum fire in Washington had burned a major power line and cut off power to much of Klickitat County, officials said.

Evacuations were ordered overnight for Wahkiacus, a community of six homes on the Klickitat River, and the surrounding area, a Klickitat County sheriff’s dispatcher said. About 100 people were taken to an evacuation center. No homes had been lost.

Meanwhile, firefighters in Oregon began to make headway against blazes that have destroyed seven homes.

Air tankers and helicopters bombed a ridge above the town of Rogue River with fire retardant and water during the night. No new homes were lost to the East Evans Creek fire.

The wind-driven fire destroyed four houses on the outskirts of Rogue River and more than 360 homes have been evacuated.