Sunday ushered in calmer weather across the West, aiding firefighters who worked to contain flames fed by drought conditions and whipped up by wind and heat.
Firefighters across the Pacific Northwest are working to protect property from fast-moving wildfires that destroyed multiple homes in eastern Oregon, cut off power in Washington and forced thousands of evacuations throughout the region. A 70-year-old woman in Idaho died while preparing to flee as a wildfire expanded east of Lewiston.
A look at conditions:
In the Pacific Northwest, fire officials are hoping calmer weather Sunday will aid fire crews using air tankers, helicopters and bulldozers to attack several large fires burning in the Chelan area in central Washington that have destroyed more than 50 structures.
Fire incident spokesman Wayne Patterson said Sunday that more fire crews, including from the Washington National Guard, are being mobilized to fight six fires burning in the area.
Together, the blazes in the area have scorched more than 155 square miles, forced about 1,500 residents to flee their homes and caused power outages.
Officials say more than 50 structures have been destroyed and the number is likely to go higher.
Patterson said air tankers have established lines to keep the flames from reaching downtown Chelan, a popular central Washington resort town. Helicopters have been dipping into Lake Chelan to pull up water to battle blazes north of the lake.
In California, light winds helped crews increase containment of a wildfire that destroyed several cabins and charred nearly 2½ square miles of forest near Los Angeles.
Officials revised the size of the fire downward after previous estimates put it at nearly 4 square miles.
The blaze in the Angeles National Forest above the suburbs of Glendora and Azusa was 20 percent contained and holding steady Sunday.
Meanwhile, crews were mopping up a 189-acre fire that erupted Friday in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles. The blaze, which burned on rolling hills close to subdivisions containing 500 homes, was contained Saturday without any building damage.
In Northern California, firefighters made more gains against a wildfire 100 miles north of San Francisco that forced mountain-town dwellers to evacuate for the second time in days. Wind shifts sent smoke from the fire all the way to the San Francisco Bay Area, where residents turned to social media to report the haze. The National Weather Service said smoky conditions were likely to remain in the area throughout the weekend.
