Firefighters from Australia, New Zealand arrive in Boise

Qualified citizens – not just professional firefighters – are now invited to join the battle against the blazes, the state Department of Natural Resources said on its webpage.

The good news for Sunday was that less smoke means restrictions on air travel will be lifted and more fire tankers can drop water and chemical retardant, Flory said.

The 71 firefighters from Australia and New Zealand picked up equipment Monday at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, before heading out to help a ground campaign led by firefighters from across the West and augmented by US soldiers.

Sixteen Australian firefighters who have arrived in the U.S.to help battle Western blazes will be assigned to the north-central Washington fire on Thursday. More than 200 homes have been destroyed and more than 12,000 homes and thousands of more structures remain threatened.

“We continue to be very aggressive with hand-line construction and dozer construction”, Pechota said. The U.S. sent firefighters overseas in 2007.

The almost 32-square-kilometre Testalinden fire south of Oliver is 60 per cent contained while the Wilson Mountain blaze north of Oliver covers three square kilometres and is fully contained.

Authorities said Tuesday that a memorial service is planned for Sunday in Wenatchee, Washington, for firefighters Tom Zbyszewski, 20, Richard Wheeler, 31, and Andrew Zajac, 26.

The biggest fire burning Monday was in Washington’s Okanogan County on the Canadian border, where a group of five fires raging out of control became the largest in state history, scorching more than 400 square miles, fire spokesman Rick Isaacson said.

Seven hundred members of the Washington National Guard were added to the state-wide firefighting effort Sunday and helicopters from surrounding states were brought in to help. Thus far, about 200 individuals with the suitable expertise have been cleared to work.

The Soda Fire has razed more than 283,000 acres in the southeast corner of the state.

Wildfires in the region made 2012 and 2014 particularly bad years for air quality, “but this year far surpasses anything we’ve seen to date”, Simpson said.

Last week, three firefighters were killed and four injured near Twisp.

“They will help fill our urgent need for fire engines and teams to protect people and buildings that are in harm’s way”, said Goldmark.

Earlier this week, Belles just happened to be working 30 miles out of town when he received a voicemail from a friend warning him about a fire approaching his home, he told ABC News today.