Forest Fires Washington State

A big forest fire edged into Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming but it appeared to be easing, and firefighters fought to keep a separate blaze inside the park from burning into Idaho. The south entrance to Yellowstone, along with the Grant Village hotel and two campgrounds, remained closed because of other fires in the park. However, officials stressed that all major park attractions were open.

In a scathing assessment of its own performance, the U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday that its crews broke every basic firefighting rule and suffered a series of equipment and management failures that resulted in the July deaths of four firefighters in a remote northern Washington canyon. The Thirty Mile wildfire was the nation's deadliest since 1994 and came early in a season that so far has consumed 2.84 million acres across the West and left 15 people dead.

The eight-week-old Silver Fire has cooled down and officials said Saturday that hundreds of firefighters are being sent home, but dry forest conditions continued to present a threat to millions of acres of timber in Oregon and Washington. U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jerry Mason said the blaze near Grants Pass was 82% contained. About 120 acres of new burn were recorded overnight, the smallest increase in a month. The fire, ignited by lightning on Aug.

Residents of Leavenworth who evacuated as a wildfire neared their homes were allowed to return as cooler weather and calmer winds allowed firefighters to gain against fires on thousands of acres in the Northwest. Evacuation orders were lifted for 50 residences, although 18 other families were not allowed back.

Firefighters worked all night to protect a Washington state tourist mecca from a forest fire that was one of 34 major blazes raging in the West. The Icicle fire, which had advanced to within three miles of Leavenworth, Wash., in the Cascade Range, was surrounded by a 20-member crew who sharply reduced the threat to about 200 homes. That fire crackled across 6,500 acres and was part of nearly 400,000 burning acres in nine states, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said.

Residents of Leavenworth who evacuated as a wildfire neared their homes were allowed to return as cooler weather and calmer winds allowed firefighters to gain against fires on thousands of acres in the Northwest. Evacuation orders were lifted for 50 residences, although 18 other families were not allowed back.

A vast wildfire shooting flames 150 feet high changed course and swept back Wednesday to within three miles of Lake Chelan. Nervous lake-shore residents lined up boats to escape in case flames blocked the only road out. Fire officials urged homeowners along the lake's south shore three miles from Chelan to evacuate. But several stayed, keeping a wary eye on smoke plumes that rose into a white cloud 40,000 feet high and visible in Seattle, 75 miles west on the other side of the Cascade Mountains.

Sprawled on the grass beside a pear orchard Sunday afternoon, 40 dirty and bedraggled firefighters stared at a thick column of orange-gray smoke rising off a steep slope overlooking this Bavarian-theme resort town. Their rest did not last long. "Listen! You can hear it," two of them said in unison as orange flames leaped skyward and the hissing of orchard sprinklers was drowned out by the crackle of burning sage and timber in the forest less than a mile away.

In a scathing assessment of its own performance, the U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday that its crews broke every basic firefighting rule and suffered a series of equipment and management failures that resulted in the July deaths of four firefighters in a remote northern Washington canyon. The Thirty Mile wildfire was the nation's deadliest since 1994 and came early in a season that so far has consumed 2.84 million acres across the West and left 15 people dead.

Firefighters worked all night to protect a Washington state tourist mecca from a forest fire that was one of 34 major blazes raging in the West. The Icicle fire, which had advanced to within three miles of Leavenworth, Wash., in the Cascade Range, was surrounded by a 20-member crew who sharply reduced the threat to about 200 homes. That fire crackled across 6,500 acres and was part of nearly 400,000 burning acres in nine states, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said.

A vast wildfire shooting flames 150 feet high changed course and swept back Wednesday to within three miles of Lake Chelan. Nervous lake-shore residents lined up boats to escape in case flames blocked the only road out. Fire officials urged homeowners along the lake's south shore three miles from Chelan to evacuate. But several stayed, keeping a wary eye on smoke plumes that rose into a white cloud 40,000 feet high and visible in Seattle, 75 miles west on the other side of the Cascade Mountains.

Sprawled on the grass beside a pear orchard Sunday afternoon, 40 dirty and bedraggled firefighters stared at a thick column of orange-gray smoke rising off a steep slope overlooking this Bavarian-theme resort town. Their rest did not last long. "Listen! You can hear it," two of them said in unison as orange flames leaped skyward and the hissing of orchard sprinklers was drowned out by the crackle of burning sage and timber in the forest less than a mile away.

Roaring wildfires across the West, outside Alaska, went over the 1 million-acre mark for the first time in drought-parched 1988. Another 2 million acres continued to burn harmlessly in vast Alaska's remote interior. With two new fires in Montana and another in Washington, 65 major blazes were aflame over 1,055,410 acres in 11 Western states, the Boise Interagency Fire Center in Idaho, the nation's firefighting headquarters, said.

The eight-week-old Silver Fire has cooled down and officials said Saturday that hundreds of firefighters are being sent home, but dry forest conditions continued to present a threat to millions of acres of timber in Oregon and Washington. U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jerry Mason said the blaze near Grants Pass was 82% contained. About 120 acres of new burn were recorded overnight, the smallest increase in a month. The fire, ignited by lightning on Aug.