SAN SIMEON, Calif. — Growing wildfires fed by windy, dry conditions have destroyed buildings and forced evacuations in central California and eastern Washington.
Crews in both states fought to contain the blazes Monday, with firefighters making headway in the Golden State while authorities tried to determine the number of homes lost in the Northwest.
Here’s a look at major wildfires in the West:
• CALIFORNIA
A growing wildfire in central California had charred nearly 50 square miles by Monday, while a destructive blaze in Southern California was mostly under control.
Nearly 1,900 structures were threatened by a blaze in coastal San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties, where more than 2,400 people were under evacuation orders.
The fire was 35 percent contained after destroying 34 homes and 14 other buildings.
Eighty miles up the coast, California’s biggest fire grew to nearly 135 square miles in rugged wilderness coast along Highway 1 north of Big Sur.
More than 400 homes remained threatened by the fire.
Meanwhile, a 58-square-mile fire that destroyed 105 homes in Southern California was almost entirely contained and all evacuation orders were lifted.
• WYOMING
The largest fire in Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming grew to about 35 square miles amid windy, warm weather, but tourists could still visit the popular park during the busy summer season.
All the park’s main tourist facilities and roads were open Monday, although the fire was creeping toward a key road linking the West Entrance with the park’s interior.
The blaze has charred mostly remote forest between West Yellowstone, Montana, a border town just outside the park’s western boundary, and the Madison Junction recreational area within the park.
The flames expanded by nearly 10 square miles Sunday. It’s one of four fires burning in Yellowstone, and warm, windy weather was expected again Monday.
• MONTANA
Authorities ordered people in a rural area of northwestern Montana to evacuate before dawn Monday after a wildfire doubled in size in one day.
The Sanders County Sheriff’s Office told people to leave their homes outside the small town of Thompson Falls. Wind gusts of up to 40 mph were expected to blow across the dry, hot terrain, stoking extreme fire behavior.
Some 20 homes and other buildings were threatened, and other residents were told that the evacuation area may spread.
Some 317 firefighters are responding to the blaze, which grew by 4 square miles Sunday to nearly 11 square miles.
• WASHINGTON
Three fires in the Spokane area have burned some homes and forced evacuations.
One blaze west of the eastern Washington city had destroyed at least six homes and scorched more than 9 square miles by Monday morning, the Department of Natural Resources said. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said 11 structures were destroyed, a figure that includes homes, garages and outbuildings.
People in the small community of Wellpinit on the Spokane Indian Reservation have been told to evacuate. The town also lost power, making the battle by firefighters more difficult.
Authorities told TV station KREM that the blaze jumped the Spokane River and was charring tribal land.
Two other wildfires are burning in the Spokane area, also causing evacuations and destroying an unknown number of buildings.
