Washington State Blaze Sparks Evacuations
The fire near Tampico, 20 miles west of Yakima in south-central Washington, had jumped to more than 1,900 acres by Monday morning, up from 300 to 500 acres on Saturday, firefighters said.
The homes were evacuated Sunday when the flames jumped a ridge, said Jeree Mills, spokeswoman for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland, Ore.
No homes or buildings had been lost since the fire started late Friday. There was no estimated when it would be contained.
Firefighters worked to dig containment lines as the flames forced the closure of a road in Tampico as well as a campground, said Dale Warriner, a team spokesman.
A wildfire north of Winthrop grew to more than 7,363 acres on Sunday. The lightning-sparked fire is ``going to burn for a while,'' said David Widmark, a coordination center spokesman. Washington's largest fire, on the Colville Indian Reservation, held to about 10,600 acres and was about 80 percent contained.
A day-old fire in Montana, about 10 to 15 miles east of Helena, had forced the evacuation of a rural subdivision and had blackened 700 acres by Monday.
Residents of about 10 homes in the subdivision near the small town of York were still waiting to return Monday, officials said. York had no electricity and service was not likely to be restored for a few days, said Lewis and Clark County emergency services coordinator Paul Spengler.
About 20 miles east of Eugene, Ore., two campgrounds were evacuated because of a 500-acre blaze in the Willamette National Forest, said David Widmark of the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. The fire, which started Sunday, also threatened five homes in the area but they had not yet been evacuated, said Willamette spokeswoman Joni Quarnstrom.
Among those evacuated from the Willamette campgrounds were 14 campers and eight counselors from Post Falls, Idaho.
``We just got them out as quickly as we could,'' leaving most of their belongings, said counselor Debbie Hunt.
A 750-acre wildfire in Wyoming forced officials to close a 23-mile section of U.S. 26-89 between Alpine and Hoback Junction along the Snake River about 23 miles south of Jackson.
Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks were not affected but officials closed three Bridger-Teton National Forest campgrounds and suspended fishing and rafting on the Snake River between Hoback Junction and Alpine because of smoke.
Ralph Boyack of Anthony, Idaho, said he and his group barely managed to grab their stuff from a campground Saturday after completing a river trip.
``While we were waiting to be allowed through to the campground we watched as some of those trees would just burst up into flames all the way to the top,'' he said.
Fires also were active in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico and Utah, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. So far this year, wildfires have blackened just over 1 million acres, compared to 3.2 million at this same time last year, the center said Monday.