After raging down the Columbia River Gorge, the 100-acre blaze largely spared this community of about 1,140 about 40 miles east of Portland. By late Tuesday, several hundred firefighters were busy suppressing hot spots and mopping up charred and smoldering forests and meadows east of town.
Earlier, two helicopters dipping water from the river and three aerial tankers bombarded the fire with water and retardant to keep the blaze at bay.
A former bed and breakfast and an abandoned house and barn were the only buildings destroyed despite flames that licked at underbrush just feet from dozens of homes.
Alarm had mounted Tuesday afternoon as the fire - which began in dry brush beside Interstate 84 when a tree branch fell on the power line - approached the town, billowing smoke and creeping up the steep gorge walls.
All over town, residents had affixed sprinklers to their roofs to ward off flames.
Resident Marty Pearson's face was streaked with ash as he returned in his pickup truck from helping a friend place sprinklers and clear a fire break. His wife, seven months pregnant, had left town earlier, but Pearson said he would stay to watch their house.
``I was going to put a new roof on next summer,'' he said. ``If my house burns down now, I'll just have to build a new house altogether.''
About 60 people took refuge at a shelter in Stevenson, Wash., officials said.
The fire caused serious traffic tie-ups as far away as Portland, and closed a stretch of Interstate 84 for 47 miles, between Troutdale and Hood River.
In Montana, one of the state's major wildfires has been contained and Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park is reopening to boating. Late Tuesday, officials said a fire south of Missoula was fully contained after burning over about 7,000 acres and destroying three houses.
Officials in Glacier National Park also announced the reopening of Lake McDonald to public boating, effective Wednesday.
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