Weather helps out Western firefighters

OKANOGAN, Washington (CNN) -- Rain provided welcome but temporary relief Thursday to firefighters battling the nation's largest wildfire, the Virginia Lake complex, which has scorched nearly 80,000 acres centered on an American Indian reservation 50 miles south of the Canadian border.

Hot and dry weather is on the way for the drought-stricken region, and firefighters were concentrating on containing the fire before winds pick up, said Penny Hulse, an information officer with Pierce County, Washington, Fire District 5.

Meanwhile, in central California, plumes of smoke were covering a 200-mile swath from Yosemite National Park south to Sequoia National Forest, where five major fires are burning about 25,000 acres.

The fires are among 28 major blazes burning in eight states, the National Interagency Fire Center said. Most fires were increasingly under control, officials said, but the center is keeping its national preparedness level at the maximum, Level 5.

Two of the three blazes that make up Washington's Virginia Lake complex wildfire have been contained, but the third, dubbed the St. Mary's fire, is still active, and the total area covered by the fires continues to grow, the NIFC said.

A U.S. Army Task Force was to deploy to the fire Thursday, joining almost 1,900 firefighters and support staff already on site.

In California, officials said more than 2,400 firefighters were making considerable progress toward containing the state's highest priority blaze, known as the Creek fire, near Yosemite National Park. The 11,500-acre fire was 85 percent contained Thursday afternoon, and officials said they were hoping for full containment by Saturday evening.

But the warm, dry weather expected this weekend may pose problems for the containment efforts.

The Mariposa County Sheriff's Department is investigating the cause of the fire, which is suspected to be arson.

All roads in the area were reopened at noon to local residents, and everyone who had been evacuated were allowed to return to their homes, said Francine Gerardi of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Some residents around the Virginia Lake fire in Washington also were able to return to their homes Thursday, but officials said nine homes on the Colville Indian Reservation had been destroyed by flames. The Red Cross has closed three of its four shelters, said Sheron Sheldon, the area chapter's Red Cross executive director.

The Creek fire in California had threatened 3,000 homes at one point and destroyed four. Eleven people have been injured, but Gerardi had no information on whether they were firefighters or residents.

The four other central California fires are being battled by more than 3,500 fire personnel and 26 helicopters. The second largest, the Hoover complex, is burning more than 5,100 acres in Yosemite's wilderness.

A sixth fire, in Southern California, just qualified for NIFC's "major" fire designation by increasing to 100 acres.

Washington had the most major fires burning Thursday, seven covering nearly 150,000 acres. There were four each in Montana (on less than 10,000 acres) and Oregon (nearly 60,000 acres); two each in Idaho (3,000 acres), Nevada (42,000 acres) and Utah (10,000 acres); and one in Wyoming (600 acres).

The fires also are having an effect on the economies of tourist areas in which they are burning, such as Yosemite National Park.

In Coulterville, Gail Hystead, who owns Yosemite's Historic Hotel Jeffery, said tourists have been scarce.

At the same time, the areas have to help feed and house firefighters and residents who have left or lost their homes. Hystead said workers and displaced residents have been using the hotel and restaurant.

At the Virginia Lake fire in Washington, the nearly 2,000 firefighters battling the fires have set up their fire camp on the Okanogan County Fairgrounds, where its executive director, Nita Weeks, and her staff of eight have the task of making sure the 67-acre fairgrounds' restrooms and shower facilities are supplied and that garbage is cleaned up.

Firefighters are using all of the fairgrounds' 37 buildings. Animals that were evacuated from the fire areas also are being housed on the grounds.

"We've never had a fire camp this large," Weeks said. She said her crew has been working 12-hour shifts the past four days.