Wind, heat, dry land fueling wildfires across West

Several large fires burning near Chelan have scorched more than 155 square miles, destroyed about 50 homes and forced about 1,500 residents to flee.

A cluster of wildfires dubbed the Canyon Creek Complex in central Oregon destroyed 26 dwellings over the weekend and continued to threaten hundreds of other structures on Monday, authorities said.

The Washington fire, sparked on Friday by lightning strikes and high winds, had doubled to 55,000 acres by Sunday and nearly surrounded the town of Chelan, fire incident spokesman Wayne Patterson said.

Among the areas hardest hit was northern Idaho, where an elderly evacuee was killed and at least 50 homes were destroyed by a cluster of fires that have raged along the Clearwater River in and around the Nez Perce Indian Reservation since last week.

The lighting-caused fire, which started in June, has grown to more than 60 square miles.

As of Saturday, the fire was more than 2,600 acres in size and 89 percent contained.

Almost 405 square kilometres were ablaze in the north-western state of Washington, where six wildfires surrounding the city of Chelan threatened more than 150 homes, CBS News reported.

A half dozen campgrounds remained evacuated around the fire, which burned four cabins and an outbuilding when it broke out on Friday. But Sessa says there have been only “two or three” serious injuries and no deaths among inmate firefighters over the past two years.

Between that fire and the Lawyer Complex fire in northwestern Idaho, more than 1,600 people are working to get the flames under control.

Another blaze in the area destroyed 43 homes days earlier.

Courtesy of Joe Smilie, Washington Dept. of Natural ResourcesA Washington National Guard Blackhawk helicopter waits out heavy winds August. 14 at the Cougar Creek fire camp outside Glenwood, Wash. “For us it means picking up additional hours here at the station, covering shifts”.

The smoke coming in from the north was so thick that residents in the San Francisco Bay Area believed the fire was actually nearby, prompting them to call 911.

Colorado: Lightning storms across northwest Colorado are being blamed for several wildfires, including one north of Craig that was estimated at 450 acres. Cheryl Lee Wissler, of Adams Grade, died Friday from a head injury sustained when she fell, authorities said.

Also in Idaho, the Soda Creek fire burning about 8 miles northeast of Jordan Valley, Oregon, has already torched more than 440 square miles. The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said it’s the first time the military has assisted wildfire suppression efforts since 2006. Firefighters will continue mop-up and patrol operations on this fire Monday. All seven are small fires burning in remote areas in northwestern Montana.