Fires threaten towns, close interstate in Pacific Northwest as heat wave continues

Firefighters in the Pacific Northwest scrambled Tuesday to contain two fires that were threatening several small towns in Oregon, and a key stretch of interstate connecting Oregon and Idaho was shut down as flames advanced.

Authorities ordered Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon shut down in both directions for about 130 miles (210 kilometers) between the cities of Ontario and Baker City as a fire there continued to advance rapidly. The freeway is a vital connection between Oregon and Idaho and will be closed at least a day, the Oregon Department of Transportation said.

More than two dozen fires are burning in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, with Oregon suffering the worst of the situation so far. More than 700,000 acres are ablaze in the state (1,093 square miles) and 114,000 of those acres burned in 24 hours, authorities said.

Smoke from the fires is affecting air quality in eastern Oregon and Washington and into Idaho. Fire crews have been plagued by late afternoon thunderstorms that are starting new blazes when lightning strikes dried-out vegetation. Parts of Oregon and Washington have also been in the grip of a heat wave, including record-breaking triple-digits temperatures, for days.

In Oregon, the entire town of Huntington, population 500, remained evacuated on Tuesday after a fire broke out late Sunday. A massive smoke column from the fire collapsed during a thunderstorm, sending winds of up to 50 mph (80 kph) out in every direction and prompting the “go now” evacuations.

Those orders remained in effect as firefighters battled three new blazes in the same area Tuesday that were sparked by lightning from new storms late Monday, the Baker County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

“Within minutes of the first lightning strikes, reports then came in of visible flames,” the post read.

Elsewhere in Oregon, a fire in the Columbia River Gorge that started late Monday forced urgent evacuations around the town of Mosier, and the entire town of about 400 people was ordered to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice on Tuesday.

Winds were gusting at more than 50 mph (80 kph) in the evening, but they had died down some on Tuesday.