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July 12, 2021 3:37 PM Associated Press
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POMEROY, Wash. (AP) A wildfire has closed the scenic North Cascades Highway, the most northern route through the Cascade Range.
The state Department of Transportation on Monday morning closed State Route 20 west of the town of Winthrop.
The highway is popular among tourists in the summer months, linking the Methow Valley with western Washington. The road provides access to North Cascades National Park and the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. It is closed much of the winter because of snow.
Meanwhile, a lightning-caused wildfire burning mostly in Asotin County in southeastern Washington grew to more than 85.9 square miles (222.4 square kilometers) Monday and was only 20 percent contained.
LOS ANGELES Dozens of wildfires burned across the torrid U.S. West on Monday, but fire agencies reported some progress in corralling the flames and forecasters predicted a gradual decrease in extreme temperatures. The fires have forced evacuations in numerous areas with scattered homes and tiny communities where some burned houses and other structures have been observed, but total losses were still being tallied. The fires erupted as the West was in the grip of the second bout of dangerously high temperatures in just a few weeks. And a climate change-fueled megadrought is making conditions that lead to fire even more dangerous, scientists say.
Firefighters make progress against big fires in US West
JOHN ANTCZAK and CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press
July 12, 2021
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1of29A firefighter sprays water while trying to stop the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, from spreading to neighboring homes in Doyle, Calif., Saturday, July 10, 2021. Pushed by heavy winds amid a heat wave, the fire came out of the hills and destroyed multiple residences in central Doyle.Noah Berger/APShow MoreShow Less
2of29Fire consumes a home as the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, tears through Doyle, Calif., on Saturday, July 10, 2021. Pushed by heavy winds, the fire came out of the hills and destroyed multiple residences in central Doyle.Noah Berger/APShow MoreShow Less
Firefighters make progress against big fires in US
The two largest fires were burning forests in northeastern California and southern Oregon, sending smoke across other states
Author:
Firefighters battle the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, in Doyle, Calif., on Friday, July 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
The two largest fires were burning forests in northeastern California and southern Oregon, sending smoke across other states
John Antczak and Christopher Weber
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES Dozens of wildfires burned across the torrid U.S. West on Monday, but fire agencies reported some progress in corralling the flames and forecasters predicted a gradual decrease in extreme temperatures.
Thousands of firefighters battle big blazes across the West
By NATHAN HOWARD and JOHN ANTCZAKJuly 13, 2021 GMT
BLY, Ore. (AP) An army of firefighters labored in hot, dry and windy weather Tuesday to contain fires chewing through wilderness and burning homes across drought-stricken Western states already sweltering in the second heat wave of the year.
A high-pressure system that created the intense weather was weakening, but temperatures were forecast to remain above normal on the lines of more than 60 active large blazes burning in the West and Alaska.
More than 14,000 firefighters and support personnel were attacking fires covering close to a million acres (1,562 square miles, 4,047 square kilometers) of land, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.