SEATTLE — Thunderstorms and lightning threatened fire officials’ plans to contain a large blaze in central Washington state as hundreds of Washington and California residents returned home to find out whether their homes were spared.
In Idaho, authorities Saturday issued a mandatory evacuation order for about 350 homes in the area around Featherville because of thick smoke. That town and the community of Pine, both recreation getaways in the mountains 105 miles northeast of Boise, remained in the path of a 130-square-mile wildfire that has been burning for two weeks.
Fire managers were concerned that poor visibility could hamper the evacuation process, said fire spokesman David Eaker. The smoke also prevented retardant bombers from reaching the fire and aerial reconnaissance flights from locating the fire’s leading edge.
“It’s a very active, very dangerous fire,” said fire information officer Steve Till. “(Crews) were prepared for it, but civilians are probably much better not being here.”
To the west, many residents in Washington were returning to the south and east sides of a 35-square-mile blaze near the town of Cle Elum in the Cascade Range, about 75 miles east of Seattle. That fire burned out of control for much of the week, destroying 70 residential properties and 210 other structures on the east side of the Cascades.
“People are finding a little bit of everything. Some homes were damaged, some homes were destroyed, and some homes weren’t even touched,” said Fred Slyfield, emergency management specialist for Kittitas County.
Firefighters in California made progress on some of the nearly dozen wildfires burning across that state. About 400 residents were allowed to return home in a rural area of San Diego County.
Crews also were gaining ground against a series of northern California wildfires, but fire officials said lightning sparked more than a dozen new blazes in the area late Friday and early Saturday.
