No day of rest for firefighters out West

BOISE, Idaho (CNN) -- Firefighters in the western United States faced 11 new major fires Sunday, a day after fully containing seven blazes across the region, the National Interagency Fire Center said.

The center reported that fires have consumed more than 813,000 acres across 10 states: California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

At last report, 35 large fires were still uncontained in these states. More than 26,000 firefighters and personnel were working to contain the blazes.

The main focus Sunday was the Pacific Northwest.

"Washington State is the prime concern for the next couple of days because the fires there have gotten so big, and the weather is so conducive to heavy burning," said NIFC fire information officer Davida Carnahan.

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Nine large fires were burning in Washington Sunday. A "complex" blaze -- a series of fires -- at Virginia Lake was the largest, scorching more than 53,000 acres, said Mark Wilkening a fire information officer working on the Virginia Lake Complex fire.

Wilkening explained that the complex consists of two fires -- the Virginia Lake fire, which was 75 percent contained and St. Mary's Mission fire, which was 25 percent contained. Goose Lake fire, which was also part of the complex fire, was fully contained.

Washington's Okanogan County issued a state of emergency last week, and local fire officials evacuated several neighborhoods near the St. Mary's Mission fire.

"As of Friday night, Saturday morning they saved 22 homes threatened by the [St. Mary's] Mission fire," Wilkening said.

However, nine homes have been lost in the Virginia Lake fire since it started August 12.

Wilkening said firefighters are focusing their efforts Sunday on the St. Mary's Mission blaze, from the ground and air.

"The area they are working today on the St. Mary's Mission fire, is very steep, very rocky and very difficult [to] access," Wilkening said. "There's duff laying in cracks of rocks that is carrying the fire through this area. Usually, we are able to use rocks as an anchor point, but the duff and [pine] needles causes the rocks to literally burn."

In Washington's Wenatchee National Forest, the Rex Creek Complex Fire consumed 10,000 acres Saturday night, the NIFC reported, and the fire actually affected the surrounding atmosphere.

"When a fire gets that large it creates its own weather pattern," Carnahan said. "[The fire] produces so much heat which expands, then forms its own cloud called a 'pyrocumulus cloud' with limited moisture.. which creates a low ceiling that feeds the fire."

"It's a pretty massive force of nature," Carnahan added. "When a fire gets that huge it can do just about anything."

The NIFC issued a fire weather watch Sunday morning for western Wyoming because of windy and dry conditions.