The Maple fire, now at 22,448 acres, grew an additional 6,233 acres yesterday, mostly on the northern flanks, due to the fire backing into the wind.
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Hot, dry winds whipped through western USA states on Tuesday, stoking wildfires that have scorched tens of thousands of hectares of land and forced residents to flee homes in California and Washington state. (AP) Some tourists heading to Yellowstone National Park during the busy summer season are facing an hourlong detour Wednesday as a wildfire in neighboring Grand Teton National Park kept a highway closed.
Higher winds were noted, but higher humidity helped offset that condition.
Authorities said the so-called Blue Cut fire was 100 percent contained Tuesday. The lightning caused fire is now estimated at 1,785 acres. An evacuation order for those living in the area was lifted before the weekend.
Authorities have ordered evacuations in eastern Idaho where a fast-moving wildfire burning rangeland and sage grouse habitat in a rural area has ballooned to 40 square miles. The Maple fire in the Tatanka Complex was detected Monday evening, August 8 by a smokejumper aircraft passing over the park.
Authorities ordered evacuations east of Thompson Falls after a fire doubled in size to almost 11 square miles.
“As it’s pushing off to the north and east, there’s not a lot of values at risk as far as infrastructure goes”, said Mike Johnson, a spokesman with the National Park Service. As many as 100 homes and structures were within a half-mile of the fire’s perimeter.
The sheriff’s office says it’s working with ranchers to get cattle out of the fire’s path.
Sunday’s human-caused blaze appeared almost contained but took off in the last several days due to dry conditions and winds of up to 40 miles per hour.
The Boundary fire, 192 acres, is 85 percent contained.
Another fire south of Spokane, in the Valleyford area, was 50 percent contained. It had burned more than 10 square miles and destroyed at least five homes, officials said.
MaryEllen Fitzgerald of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest said Tuesday the fire near the Utah-Idaho state line is within one-fourth of a mile of the Beaver Mountain Ski Resort, which is on pre-evacuation notice. The Fawn fire continues to show growth as fuels dry out. The fire had blackened less than one square mile and the cause was unknown.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Tuesday that the blaze has charred almost 58 square miles of brush in San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties.
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In central Washington, a large fire moved east toward Kahlotus, where it threatened homes and forced some residents to evacuate.
