BRAD CAIN
Associated Press Writer
MONUMENT, Ore. (AP) -- Firefighters across the West said their resources were severely strained Wednesday as flames closed roads and threatened towns, including an Oregon ranching community where 150 people prepared for the possibility of evacuation.
The fire was burning within three miles of Monument, in the high desert about 270 miles east of Portland. Residents of the town's 27 homes stood by waiting for word on whether they would have to leave.
``The smoke is so thick you can't see two blocks,'' said Bill Kennedy, a resident who has worked on fire crews in the past. ``As it gets hotter, and the wind picks up, it's going to get worse.''
Seven homes were evacuated overnight, and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber declared a ``state of conflagration,'' which means any agencies that send firefighters and gear to fight the fire will be reimbursed by the state. The 6,000-acre blaze was only 10 percent contained Wednesday, and was burning within three miles of the town.
The fire was not an immediate threat to the town, but firefighters said it could soon endanger 10 to 15 homes on a ridge north of the community.
The weather forecast was still calling for possible thunderstorms in the region, which was bad news for firefighters. Lightning was believed to have caused many fires in the West.
The National Interagency Fire Center on Wednesday placed the West at Level Five alert status, which it does when firefighters are in danger of running out of people and equipment to fight fires. The agency coordinates firefighting across the country.
The declaration allows fire managers to bring in crews from across the nation and tap the military for help if necessary. The last Level Five was last summer, when wildfires burned across a million acres in Montana.
The center's Web site said a Level Five ``means several geographic areas are managing major wildland fires, are competing for resources, and have the potential to exhaust all agency fire resources.''
``We are stretched pretty thin on helicopters, air tankers,'' said Nancy Lull, a spokeswoman for the fire center in Boise, Idaho. ``Our crews are starting to stretch a little thinner.''
Most fires in the West spread quickly through parched land. The air is so dry across most of the region that rain never reaches the ground.
A fire in north-central Washington had burned about 27,000 acres on the Colville Indian Reservation, destroying a least six homes and threatening 50 others, said Nick Mickel, a fire information officer. Campgrounds, hiking trails and roads in the area were closed because of smoke and firefighting work.
Other homes and cabins in Washington were threatened by fires burning across thousands of acres of grass, sagebrush and timber scattered from the Cascade Range east to the Idaho state line.
In California, crews 290 miles northeast of Sacramento fought to keep a roughly 28,000-acre fire from spreading to two communities Wednesday.
The fire was only 10 percent contained and threatened Eagleville, a small community of about 100 people, and Jess Valley, which has 50 residents. Full containment wasn't expected until Aug. 22, said Wayne Chandler, a fire information officer for Modoc National Forest.
California's largest blaze, a range fire near the Nevada state line, had grown to 67,700 acres but had been 90 percent contained, said Jeff Fontana, a spokesman for the Susanville Interagency Fire Center.
An 82,000-acre grass and brush fire in central Nevada had been contained, and crews turned their attention to a nearby 11,000-acre fire that was 25 percent contained.
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