Western Wildfires Update: Obama Administration Says Wildfire Budget Is Nearly Spent; Idaho Woman Killed While Fleeing Blaze

Associated Press
Published: August 16,2015

The Obama administration said the Forest Service's firefighting budget is expected to run out some time next week, and they'll have to tap into funding from other programs for funding the rest of 2015.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, whose department includes the Forest Service, said Congress needs to change the way it funds firefighting. In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, Vilsack said firefighting costs are consuming an ever-greater share of the agency's budget, taking money away from programs that could help prevent wildfires.
The House passed a bill last month that would let the Forest Service tap into federal disaster funds when its firefighting budget is empty. Vilsack said that doesn't address the longer-term problem of the firefighting budget devouring a bigger share of the total each year.
(MORE: Why You Need a Severe Weather Plan for Outdoor Events)
Intense blazes incinerated homes in Eastern Oregon, left many without power in Washington and forced thousands to flee their homes throughout the Pacific Northwest.
A wildfire in Idaho caused the death of a 70-year-old woman who fell while attempting to flee the quick-moving blaze.
There are currently more than 80 large wildfires burning across the West; here is an update on some of those infernos.

Washington

Fire officials are hoping calmer weather Sunday will aid fire crews using air tankers, helicopters and bulldozers to attack several large fires burning in the Chelan area in central Washington that have destroyed more than 50 structures.
Fire incident spokesman Wayne Patterson said Sunday that more fire crews, including from the Washington National Guard, are being mobilized to fight six fires burning in the area.
Together, the blazes in the area have scorched more than 155 square miles, forced about 1,500 residents to flee their homes and caused power outages.
Officials say more than 50 structures have been destroyed and the number is likely to go higher.
Patterson said air tankers have established lines to keep the flames from reaching downtown Chelan, a popular central Washington resort town. Helicopters have been dipping into Lake Chelan to pull up water to battle blazes north of the lake.
"There were literally people on the beaches near that lake in their swim wear out on the lake right near it," Patterson told The Associated Press.

California

Light winds helped crews increase containment of a wildfire that destroyed several cabins and charred nearly 2 -and-a-half square miles of forest near Los Angeles.
Officials revised the size of the fire downward after previous estimates put it at nearly 4 square miles.
The blaze in the Angeles National Forest above the suburbs of Glendora and Azusa was 20 percent contained and holding steady Sunday.
A half-dozen campgrounds remained evacuated around the fire that burned four cabins and an outbuilding when it broke out on Friday.
Firefighters clambered along rocky ridges in triple-digit temperatures. Ten were treated for heat exhaustion, dehydration and minor injuries.
Meanwhile, crews were mopping up an 189-acre fire that erupted Friday in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles. The blaze, which burned on rolling hills close to subdivisions containing 500 homes, was contained Saturday without any building damage.
Sunday night, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reported that three brush fires were burning through the Montebello, Castaic and Glendora areas shutting down several roads including sections of the Eastbound 60 Freeway.
In Northern California, firefighters made more gains against a wildfire 100 miles north of San Francisco that forced mountain-town dwellers to evacuate for the second time in days. Wind shifts sent smoke from the fire all the way to the San Francisco Bay Area, where residents turned to social media to report the haze. The National Weather Service said smoky conditions were likely to remain in the area throughout the weekend.
Two fires have charred dry Lower Lake, the most recent burning 39 square miles of thick brush and oak trees in Lake and Napa counties. It was 82 percent contained by Sunday.
An earlier, larger fire in the same area was fully contained Friday more than two weeks after it broke out. The blaze destroyed 43 homes.
(MORE: Eye-Opening Numbers Reveal California's Intense Battle with Dangerous 2015 Fire Season)

Colorado

Lightning storms across northwest Colorado are being blamed for several wildfires, including one north of Craig that was estimated at 450 acres. The Bureau of Land Management says no injuries have been reported and one home was evacuated.
The Northwest Colorado Fire Management Unit says nine fires were ignited Saturday.
Firefighters say the fires were pushed in multiple directions by erratic winds from passing storms.

Montana

Smoke of wildfires fouled the air in southwest Montana as firefighters continued battling dozens of fires in the western half of the state.
Cooler temperatures on Saturday helped some, but most fires remained active thanks to erratic winds and little moisture.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality issued an air quality alert for counties in the southwest, including Missoula, because of smoke from large fires burning in western Montana forests and grasslands.
The state's biggest fire has burned nearly 21 square miles in Glacier National Park.

Idaho

A 70-year-old woman was killed when she fell while preparing to flee from a wildfire expanding quickly east of Lewiston, the Idaho County Sheriff's Department said Saturday.
Cheryl Lee Wissler of Adams Grade died Friday from a head injury she sustained when she fell, authorities said.
An estimated 30 homes and 75 other structures were lost to the blaze, the sheriff's department said. The fire is surrounding the small town of Kamiah, about 60 miles east of Lewiston, and burned to the edge of Clearwater River, directly across the water from downtown.
More than 750 people were assigned to fight several fires that together have charred more than 50 square miles in the area near Kamiah.
The region was already struggling after severe drought damaged wheat harvests, with farmers watching as their normally plump wheat kernels grew pinched and stunted from the lack of water. Though most of the wheat had been cut before the fires started, bone-dry stubble still covers the prairie and the forests surrounding Kamiah are parched.