Firefighters battle major blazes as U.S. West faces more heat

[June 23, 2015]  By Steve Quinn and Courtney Sherwood
 
 JUNEAU, Alaska/PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Firefighters in Alaska, Oregon and drought-hit California on Monday fought several massive wildfires that have blackened swathes of overheated U.S. West Coast states, as crews braced for warmer temperatures later this week, officials said.

Aided by falling temperatures, Alaska firefighters have gained an edge over two major blazes in the greater Anchorage area that have destroyed dozens of homes. Some residents were allowed to return to their homes.

Firefighters have contained about 25 percent of a 7,300-acre (2,954-hectare) blaze in Sterling, some 140 miles (225 km) south of Anchorage, and nearly 80 percent of a blaze in Willow, the starting site of the famed Iditarod dog sled race.

Even with the cooler temperatures, National Weather Service officials say dry conditions still make many areas of Alaska vulnerable to spreading fires, as authorities battle nearly 150 active blazes.

The fire-ripe conditions extended down the U.S. West Coast through Oregon, Washington state and California, where lower temperatures briefly allowed firefighters to make some gains against several major blazes even as forecasts called for another heat wave amid a historic drought, said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant.

Daytime temperatures reached a slightly cooler 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 C) in a mountainous national forest outside Los Angeles, helping the more than 1,900 firefighters expand containment lines to around 21 percent of a fire that has charred some 17,305 acres (7,003 hectares).

Campsites, hiking trails and a highway remained closed and some 500 structures were threatened, as crews dug containment lines and readied fire engines and bulldozers near the community of Pioneertown, about 8 miles (13 km) from the fire's edge, which was so far not threatened.

Wildfires outside of Fresno and San Luis Obispo have destroyed homes and outbuildings and prompted evacuation orders, though one order had been lifted by Monday.

In Washington state, a lightening-sparked wildfire that has blackened about 600 acres in the Olympic Peninsula - seeing its driest conditions in decades - was being propelled through steep terrain by dry lichens in the forest canopy, a fire official said.

In Oregon, firefighters were bracing for significantly warmer temperatures and drier air later in the week as they made progress against the roughly 4,800-acre (1,943-hectare) Buckskin Fire that was 30 percent contained, incident commander Doug Johnson said.

Though no property is threatened, some public forest lands have been closed.

(Reporting by Courtney Sherwood in Portland, Oregon and Steve Quinn in Juneau, Alasak; Additional reporting and writing by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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