Western Wildfires Still Growing, But Better Weather Helps Crews Make Progress Fire officials warned they still had a long way to go before knocking down the blazes burning the American West By Nathan Howard •
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Lower winds and better weather helped crews using bulldozers and helicopters battling the nation’s largest wildfire in southern Oregon while a Northern California wildfire crossed into Nevada, prompting evacuations as blazes burn across the West.
Oregon’s Bootleg Fire grew to 624 square miles over half the size of Rhode Island. However, authorities said higher humidity Wednesday and overnight and better conditions allowed crews to improve fire lines. The fire also was approaching an area burned by a previous fire on its active southeastern flank, raising hopes that a lack of fuel could reduce its spread and the forecast was for favorable firefighting weather again Thursday.
mjacobson@tahoedailytribune.com
A view Thursday afternoon from the Ridge Tahoe. The basin has mostly escaped wildfire smoke but the Carson Valley is suffering. (Provided / Alertwildfire.org)
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. The Tamarack Fire continues to rage but so far it hasn’t crossed a key highway that would provide a greater threat to Lake Tahoe.
Officials said the fire has been active due to extremely dry fuels and grew by about 10,000 acres from Wednesday into Thursday. The blaze has grown to 50,129 based on infrared mapping. It’s 4% contained, the first bit of containment since the fire exploded out of control on Friday, July 16.
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Over 1,200 firefighters continued to battle the Tamarack Fire near Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada.
in Oregon, the nation’s largest wildfire, the Bootleg Fire, grew to 624 square miles Thursday – just over half the size of Rhode Island.
Almost 80 large wildfires are now burning across the U.S., including 19 in Montana.
A large wildfire in Northern California spread into Nevada late Wednesday, leading to new evacuations, while crews battling the nation s largest fire in Oregon were aided by better weather.
Smoke from wildfires in the West continued to spread Thursday, bringing hazy skies and poor air quality to many locations.
Tamarack Fire spreads to Nevada; Western wildfires lead to poor air quality across the US Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
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A large wildfire in Northern California spread into Nevada late Wednesday, leading to new evacuations, while crews battling the nation s largest fire in Oregon were aided by better weather.
Smoke from wildfires in the West continued to spread Thursday, bringing hazy skies and poor air quality to many locations.
More than 1,200 firefighters battled the Tamarack Fire near Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada on Thursday. The fire has burned more than 68 square miles of national forest.
A request for evacuations was issued for portions of Douglas County, Nevada, as the fire spread across the state line. An evacuation center was set up at a community center in Gardnerville, Nevada.