Fire Destroys 5 Homes on Indian Reservation

Fire destroyed at least five homes as it swept through an evacuated 35-home subdivision Wednesday afternoon on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, about 90 miles southeast of Portland.

The 24,000-acre fire on the reservation was one of dozens that have burned more than 450,000 acres throughout the West over the past week.

In California, exhausted firefighters gained an edge on some blazes, but their ranks were stretched thin as hot, dry weather dragged on.

A total of 364 fires burned 21,000 acres of brush and timber in California this week, said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service.

Glickman said it could get worse. “We have the hottest temperatures in years and the driest weather in years and very unpredictable wind conditions,” he said.

In Tuolumne County, firefighters managed to nearly contain a 12,000-acre fire near Chinese Camp.

A fire near Three Rivers in Tulare County had blackened more than 500 acres and was expected to burn several thousand more because of steep terrain and a lack of equipment.

An 8,420-acre fire in the San Bernardino National Forest was 50% contained.

The threat had eased in the eastern Oregon town of Spray, where firefighters estimated that a 22,000-acre blaze would be contained by this evening.

A 110,000-acre fire near Antelope, Ore., was burning mainly in remote rangeland. The fire destroyed a mansion that once belonged to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, whose religious commune nearly took over the community in the early 1980s.