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Lightning Sparks Several Fires in Wash.

Posted on: Saturday, 14 July 2007, 00:06 CDT

GRAND COULEE, Wash. - A lightning storm that swept through the Cascade Range and across eastern Washington sparked dozens of fires Friday, including a blaze that burned a home and several smaller structures.

That fire in north-central Washington was only about 60 acres, but about 60 firefighters were working to contain it. Officials said they were unsure how three other homes in the same canyon fared.

A 4 1/2-square-mile fire in south-central Washington forced the evacuation of between 40 and 50 homes, officials said. There were no reports of any damaged structures.

Low humidity and triple-digit temperatures continued to hamper firefighting efforts Friday, especially as fire crews tackled some 30 lightning-sparked fires in the northeastern part of the state. They were small and scattered, and it's unknown if any structures were threatened, officials said.

Meanwhile, fire crews in other Western states on Friday were mopping up or close to containing several wildfires that had bedeviled them for several days, officials said.

In northern Arizona's Coconino National Forest, authorities were allowing several residents into their vacation homes near Mormon Lake after deciding that danger from a wildfire had passed. The blaze, which consumed nearly 8 square miles of forest, was 90 percent contained by Friday evening and was expected to be fully contained by Saturday, fire information officer Lori Cook said.

Meanwhile, a fire that had threatened the Kitt Peak National Observatory southwest of Tucson was expected to be contained by Saturday.

South of Hot Springs, S.D., fire officials said Friday that they had contained a wildfire that killed a man, destroyed 33 homes and burned 16 square miles of forest and meadows since lightning started it last weekend.

Hot Springs resident David Beeman, 46, died in the fire; friend Doug Pirnie said Beeman had gone back into his home to get his dogs. Two firefighters suffered serious burns fighting the southwestern South Dakota blaze.

Firefighters moved closer to containment on several fires in Utah, including the largest one in state history. That fire, about 120 miles south of Salt Lake City, had reached 568 square miles by Friday and was 75 percent contained.

Another Utah fire that consumed only 3 square miles but had come dangerously close to methane vents and coal mines was 95 percent contained Friday, officials said.

Fire crews also were mopping up a 126-square-mile fire in northeastern Nevada near Jackpot and a 55-square-mile fire in California's Inyo National Forest that destroyed six homes north of Mount Whitney. A nearly 36-square-mile fire in California's Plumas National Forest had also been contained Friday night.

In California's northern Santa Barbara County, firefighters were struggling to keep a 21-square-mile blaze in the Los Padres National Forest from spreading across a river, where it could threaten the small town of Tepusquet. The fire was 37 percent contained Friday - a figure that has not changed for days.

Steep, broken terrain made it hard to fight the flames, fire spokesman Tony Guzman said. However, high humidity and calm winds had prevented the fire's spread, he said.

Wildfires also continued to threaten rural buildings in eastern Oregon.

In Idaho, fire crews from states such as California helped contain several large blazes. The largest, which had burned 110 square miles in southern Idaho near Malta, was about 60 percent contained Friday, officials said.

In western Wyoming, a wildfire that flared up Thursday came within a quarter-mile of some summer homes and forced at least 200 people to evacuate homes and campgrounds. But a storm dumped about an inch of rain overnight and doused the blaze.

"Mother Nature really helped us out last night," State Forester Bill Crapser said Friday.

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On the Net:

National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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