SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – Favorable weather conditions helped crews make progress Wednesday against a series of wildfires in Eastern Washington that have burned at least 18 homes this week.
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But cooler weather slowed fires in Montana.
The South Entrance to Yellowstone National Park is expected to remain closed into this weekend because of a fire burning in neighboring Grand Teton National Park.
Travelers coming from the south can still access Yellowstone through Idaho and the park’s West Entrance.
About 50 people have been evacuated from campgrounds and a lodge that rents cabins in the area.
Three dozen large wildfires burn from Washington state to California as Summer heat and winds whip uncontained infernos across the West.
Firefighter Kristen Johnson, with the Riverside Fire Department, works to mop up a recently burned area from a wildfire along Lynch Canyon Road in Paso Robles, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.
Fire spokeswoman Karen Miranda says the fire remains active and more firefighters are being brought in. That fire covered more than 27 square miles and had destroyed at least 13 homes on the reservation, said Jamie Sijohn, a spokeswoman for the tribe.
Cal Fire’s Rich Eagan says flames are more than 2 miles from Hearst Castle, which remains closed but is no longer threatened.
On Monday, another fire that appeared almost contained about seven miles east of Idaho Falls took off with high winds still gusting to 40 mph at 10 p.m., according to Bonneville County Sheriff Dept. spokesman Bryan Lovell. Investigators were seeking the cause of the blaze that broke out a week ago.
That fire, burning north of the Big Sur coastal area, has been blamed for one death and three injuries and has destroyed 57 homes, according to Cal Fire.
More than 400 homes remained threatened by the fire.
Inslee noted that hot and windy weather conditions are forecast for the next seven days.
Crews in both states fought to contain the blazes, with firefighters making headway in the Golden State while authorities counted at least 16 homes burned in the Northwest.
Authorities ordered people in a rural area of northwestern Montana to evacuate before dawn Monday after a wildfire doubled in size in one day.
A house trailer burned before the fire was contained but the person living there escaped, KECI-TV reported.
With lighter winds and higher humidity, fire crews have made progress northeast of Thompson Falls.
About 75 homes and other structures are within a half-mile of the fire’s perimeter.
Authorities ordered evacuations east of Thompson Falls after a fire doubled in size to almost 11 square miles.
A fast-moving rangeland wildfire in eastern Idaho expanded to almost 70 square miles Wednesday, forcing evacuations, threatening a windfarm and burning habitat needed by sage grouse, a federally protected bird.
The evacuations were ordered east of Idaho Falls, where up to 70 buildings were threatened near U.S. Highway 26, the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
The sheriff’s office says it’s working with ranchers to get cattle out of the fire’s path. The fire has remained at 35 percent containment for several days. All homes in the Lowman and Pioneerville area are under a Level 1 evacuation, which means residents should be prepared to leave.
The fire burning in remote, mountainous backcountry near Lowman is 47 percent contained but is expected to burn at least until the end of September. Officials say almost 50 square miles have been burned near the Idaho state line as about one hundred firefighters struggled to contain it.
A week-old, 50-square-mile blaze north of Santa Barbara is still growing as it feeds on extremely dry fuels in Los Padres National Forest.
Ryan Corbett watches as firefighters battle a wildfire Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016, near Garden City, Utah.
MaryEllen Fitzgerald of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest said Tuesday the fire near the Utah-Idaho state line is within a quarter-mile of Beaver Mountain Ski Resort, which is on pre-evacuation notice.
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The fire caused a delay in the opening of schools in Wellpinit.
