Firefighters battle 27 big blazes as lightning returns

An air and ground force of firefighters on Thursday fought 27 major wildfires that have charred at least 121,000 acres of grass, brush and timber across the West. Lightning threatened to ignite new blazes.

Thick smoke drifting from the fires blanketed Reno, Nev., and cities in California's Central Valley including Sacramento, where authorities warned residents to avoid unnecessary outdoor activity.

More than 10,100 firefighters using at least 660 fire engines battled fires in California, where nearly half the major fires were burning, and in Nevada, Oregon, Montana, Washington and Idaho. They were supported by at least 104 helicopters and two dozen air tankers.

"The situation is escalating and it's getting to the point where we're concerned about being able to respond to all the fires adequately," said Janelle Smith of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

The U.S. Forest Service summoned forces from throughout the nation. If additional help is needed, it could come from the National Guard, the active-duty Army and Canada, Smith said.

The National Weather Service forecast lightning with little rain overnight Thursday in south-central Oregon, northern Nevada and Northern California, spurring fears of more fires.

One death in California has been blamed on the fires that have roared out of control since lightning sieges started last weekend, fueled by 100-degree heat, wind and low humidity.

Few structures have burned and there were no mandatory evacuations in effect.

"We've been really lucky," said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Barbara Rebiskie.

Officials credited firefighters, and homeowners in the wildlands who have heeded years of pleas to clear flammable material from around their houses.

Northern California had at least a dozen major fires involving grass, brush and timber.

Clusters of fires in Tehama and Glenn counties had burned a total 24,000 acres; in Butte County, 22,000 acres; in Shasta and Trinity counties, 1,300 acres; in the Shasta-Trinity National Forests, 4,000 acres; in Lassen National Forest, hundreds of acres; in Klamath National Forest, 300 acres; and in Modoc National Forest, 11,500 acres.

Two separate clusters of fires on the Plumas National Forest had together burned more than 6,000 acres.

Three large fires - one of 6,400 acres and two of 700 acres each - burned in Lassen and Modoc counties.

Investigators said a California woman killed by a wildfire in Butte County had become disoriented in the smoke and made a wrong turn. Michelle Marie Bruno, 36, was found dead Tuesday beside her burned truck after she tried to flee the flames as they approached her home.

In the Stanislaus National Forest in Central California near Groveland, firefighters battled a brush and timber blaze that had grown to more than 3,300 acres.

In nearby Yosemite National Park, officials allowed two lightning-sparked fires to burn as long as they did not endanger inhabited areas. Together, the fires have burned more than 7,000 acres.

A 700-acre fire sparked by a car crash burned in the Angeles National Forest, about 45 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

In Nevada, firefighters hoped to snuff out a fire in the Antelope Valley near Reno by sometime Friday. It has blackened about 6,500 acres of sagebrush and juniper.

Nevada firefighters also battled a 500-acre fire in grass and brush near Elko, a 4,500-acre grass fire 70 miles northwest of Winnemucca, and a cluster of separate fires totaling 30,000 acres in grass and brush 45 miles north of Reno.

In Oregon, firefighters attacked a 675-acre blaze 12 miles south of Dayville and a 10,500-acre fire in sage brush in the Sheldon-Hart National Wildlife Refuge, 120 miles southeast of Lakeview.

Firefighters fought a 300-acre grass fire in southeastern Idaho. Authorities allowed a cluster of timber fires totaling 2,360 acres to burn naturally on the Payette National Forest in central Idaho, as long as the blazes did not threaten inhabited areas.

Two large wildfires, both contained, burned on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington state.

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