Wildfires burn across region

Firefighters continued to battle four large fires in north-central Washington, while keeping a watchful eye for storms that could bring winds and lightning.

Northeast of Winthrop, the Spur Peak and Tripod fires together had burned more than 116 square miles, or 74,312 acres, of national and state forest land.

Smoke from the two fires prevented crews from determining Tuesday whether they had merged, as expected, said Chuck Turley, a fire information officer at Conconully base camp.

There were numerous spot fires in the small area between the two fires and “it was very possible that they had merged,” Turley said early Tuesday evening.

Seven helicopters were dropping water on the two fires, which were 10 percent contained. About 1,950 firefighters were assigned to the blazes.

“Temperatures were a little cooler. We had some cloud cover today with cooler temperatures,” said Robin DeMario, a spokeswoman for the Okanogan and Wenatchee national forests.

Lightning started both the Spur Peak and Tripod fires.

The Flick Creek fire near Stehekin on Lake Chelan was 25 percent contained at 4,195 acres, or about 6.5 square miles. Fire crews had completed work to search out hot spots with hand-held infrared devices, DeMario said, and were working to improve old fire lines.

Fire crews also were continuing trail protection efforts along the Entiat River to protect against the Tinpan fire, which has burned 4,095 acres about 40 miles northwest of Entiat. About 242 fire personnel were working the blaze.

West of the Cascade Range, the Bear Gulch II fire was estimated at 375 acres, more than half a square mile, on a steep, rocky hillside between Lake Cushman and Mount Rose, north of Shelton. The fire was 25 percent contained.

Idaho

Fanned by hot winds, small range fires grew to thousands of acres Tuesday across the eastern Idaho plains, while dozens of new blazes were reported in the central mountains after a band of dry lightning storms crossed the region.

In the timber-studded peaks north of Stanley, another 18 miles of containment line was needed to encircle the 2-week-old Potato fire, which has burned more than 8 square miles of forest and cost more than $5 million to fight.

“It’s a running battle mainly because it’s very rugged, steep, and hard to get people in to where fire is at,” said David Eaker of the Great Basin National Incident Management Team directing the force of 767 firefighters. “It’s just skunking around in there, but we’ve got a front coming through right now that may bring higher winds with it, so this is a critical time.”

The Potato fire has burned one abandoned cabin and is threatening 10 evacuated homes near Bonanza that have been wrapped in fireproofing material and rigged with roof sprinklers.

Elsewhere on the Salmon-Challis National Forest, there were 29 new lightning-sparked fires reported Tuesday. Initial attack crews were being sent in to try to prevent those starts from growing.

Eight large fires were being actively fought in Idaho on Tuesday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center at Boise. Combined, they had burned more than 100 square miles.

In southeastern Idaho along the Utah border, strong winds helped the Stone 2 fire near Holbrook jump a main defense line and expand to scorch more than 34 square miles of sagebrush and juniper rangeland, along with 12 square miles of the Curlew National Grassland. More than 200 firefighters from 10 states were working the Stone 2 and were reinforced Tuesday with a heavy air tanker as the flames blasted across the desert landscape.

“When fuels are this dry and a fire goes through the sage and juniper, the ignition almost sounds like a passing train; it just roars,” said Joanna Wilson of the Eastern Idaho Interagency Fire Center in Idaho Falls. “Fire behavior is extreme, and we are seeing it grow very quickly.”

North of the Stone 2 fire, a new, as-yet-unnamed fire was reported Tuesday near Massacre Rocks State Parks in Power County. Wilson said an undetermined number of rural homes were being protected by county road crew graders that were blading fire lines. To the east, the Owinza fire five miles northeast of Dietrich doubled in size to 31 square miles and crews were bracing for an onslaught of new ignitions.

“We’re in a red flag warning, where all the factors of humidity, temperature and wind are coming into play to mean more fires and fires that are more likely to spread faster than normal,” said Sky Buffat of the Twin Falls District of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

“The fires we are fighting are a result of lightning and with more dry thunderstorms forecast, we are a little bit anxious and getting people in position to be ready for more.”