Bad air from fires to lift as West cools, rain falls

A helicopter makes a water drop on the Eagle Creek Fire on Thursday in this view from the Cape Horn overlook along Highway 14. Improved conditions also allowed water drops on the Archer Mountain Fire in western Skamania County on Sept. 7, 2017.
A helicopter makes a water drop on the Eagle Creek Fire on Thursday in this view from the Cape Horn overlook along Highway 14. Improved conditions also allowed water drops on the Archer Mountain Fire in western Skamania County on Sept. 7, 2017.

BOISE, Idaho -- Storms delivered cooler and wetter weather to the Western and Northwestern U.S. this weekend, breaking up a temperature inversion that had blanketed much of the region with acrid smoke from dozens of wildfires.

Officials at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise said Saturday that they expected fire activity to decrease over the next several weeks. Center spokesman Kari Cobb said air quality should improve as the smoke-trapping inversion breaks up.

"We should see it lifting more today," she said Saturday. "It's predicted to be mostly gone by tomorrow in most of the West."

She said forecasters expect storms to produce some lightning and winds to 30 mph, notably in Montana, but that rain and higher humidity should decrease the chances of new fires.

The center said there are 67 active large wildfires being fought.

In drought-stricken Montana, firefighters used sprinklers and hoses Saturday to try to protect strategic locations near some of the more than two dozen wildfires burning in the state that have forced more people from their homes.

A "rain for rent" system was being used in Glacier National Park, including around Lake McDonald Lodge, to increase humidity in the immediate area. That means firefighters were using sprinklers to replenish a swamp on the perimeter of a 176-square-mile fire burning near Seeley Lake. The land is too soggy to support bulldozers used to build containment lines but not wet enough to reliably stop the flames from advancing beyond it.

About a dozen people were ordered to evacuate their homes Friday night after very warm and dry conditions pushed a 37-square-mile fire near Lincoln toward them.

Stronger winds are expected to clear out some of the heavy smoke that has created unhealthy air in the state and grounded firefighting aircraft.

Wind gusts of 35 mph are possible, with the strongest winds expected along the Continental Divide where some of the fires are burning.

Montana has spent more than $50 million on fire suppression since the beginning of July, depleting its reserves account and emergency funds at a time when tax revenue is down. It plans to cut programs and services to fill a projected $227 million budget shortfall.

In Idaho, at least four high school football games were canceled Friday and another 13 postponed because of smoke from wildfires.

Some of those games were rescheduled for Saturday, and state officials said air-quality conditions had improved enough that they lifted a statewide caution.

Idaho's largest wildfire continues to burn in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho. It's being allowed to burn unchecked, but buildings and bridges are being protected.

Officials say the fire on Saturday had consumed about 126 square miles.

In Washington, a 165-square-mile wildfire burning within the Pasayten Wilderness about 12 miles north of Mazama is the largest one in the state.

It also crossed the border into Canada late last month with flames fueled by dead timber.

Officials say the fire is about 40 percent contained but rugged terrain is hampering firefighting efforts.

Near Enumclaw, Wash., firefighters are attacking a 1-square-mile wildfire that is threatening the watershed for the city of Tacoma as well as industrial timberland.

About 200 firefighters are assigned to that fire.

A wildfire burning in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in Oregon is holding at about 52 square miles but residents in communities in three counties remain under evacuation notices.

More than 900 firefighters are battling the blaze that's 7 percent contained and burning in timber.

Officials say firefighters set fires Friday to burn fuel ahead of the blaze and have greatly reduced the danger of it spreading to the north.

Officials say the fire has burned in a mosaic pattern, and some areas within the perimeter of the fire have trees that should survive, keeping at least some of the scenic gorge green.

Meanwhile, a wildfire persisting for more than two weeks in far northwestern California continues to chew through timber even as crews increase containment.

Officials said Saturday that the blaze near Helena, a rural community that was once a 19th-century mining camp, has consumed nearly 32 square miles of forest. It's 40 percent contained. Evacuation orders remain in place for several homes.

In central California, a fire on the western edge of the Sierra is half contained after charring nearly 40 square miles of dry brush and trees near Springville.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling about 20 large blazes across the state.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Madera, Mariposa and Tulare counties as wildfires have burned for several days.

Information for this article was contributed by Colleen Slevin of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/10/2017

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