Wildfires Rage in 5 Western States

Firefighters in five states were battling raging brush and woodland fires Tuesday in what officials described as one of the worst beginnings of the annual summer wildfire season in memory. “This is definitely one of the worst, and the season is only starting,” a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho said.

Rain and snow helped firefighters gain the edge Tuesday on a 4,000-acre wildfire that destroyed four homes near Carson City, Nev., while authorities considered charges against two teenage boys who sparked the blaze. “It snowed on the fire line; it’s been raining all day,” said fire spokesman Stacey Giomi. But more than a dozen fires were still burning in four other states.

The largest fire, in Utah, had burned 30,000 acres by Tuesday and was threatening the small town of Lofgren, where plans were being made to evacuate residents. Three other wildfires in Utah had consumed more than 6,000 acres. Other wildfires burning in Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico blackened more than 70,000 acres as flames were pushed by strong winds and aided by dry conditions.