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Fierce heatwave fans US wildfires Wildfires rage across western US
(about 14 hours later)
A heatwave in the western states of the US has caused a string of wildfires, threatening homes and closing highways. Wildfires are spreading in several US western states, threatening homes and closing highways.
Hundreds of people in the town of Winnemucca, Nevada, had to leave their homes on Saturday because of an 8,000-acre fire. One homeowner has been killed and 27 homes destroyed in South Dakota's Black Hills, said local officials quoted by the Associated Press news agency.
In California, some 200 people were evacuated from homes in the town of Independence, on the eastern spine of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Temperatures as high as 38C (100F) have followed a drier-than-normal winter and meant conditions are ideal for fires.
Temperatures as high as 38C have followed a drier-than-normal winter. In Utah, the largest wildfire in state history has destroyed almost 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares).
Lightning strikesLightning strikes
Fires have also been burning in Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Washington state, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported. Other fires are raging in California, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.
The fire in Winnemucca, a town with a population of 8,000, threatened eight blocks of houses, reports said. Several were blamed for road accidents on a stretch of highway near Richfield, Utah, including one in which two people were killed. Highway patrols blamed poor visibility from smoke.
"It's right up to the south edge of town," US bureau of land management spokesman Jamie Thompson said. "The fire definitely poses a danger to parts of the town. It's certainly got everyone's attention." More than 34,000 acres (13,800 hectares) have been scorched in California's Inyo National Forest and campgrounds had to be evacuated.
In California, Fires were also raging near Santa Clarita and more than 400 firefighters fought flames which consumed 17,000 acres (6,900 hectares) of the two million acre (810,000-hectare) Inyo National Forest east of Yosemite National Park. "Everything is very, very dry," said Nancy Upham, a spokeswoman for the Inyo National Forest.
Fires were blamed for several road accidents on a stretch of Interstate 70 near Richfield, Utah, including one in which two people were killed. Highway patrols blamed poor visibility from smoke. "There are seasoned fire fighters who are seeing fire behaviour they have never seen before. Things are just igniting with a single spark."
In the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California 11 firefighters were injured.
Many of the fires have been blamed on lightning strikes in tinder-dry forest areas, after a mild winter which saw lower-than-average rainfalls.Many of the fires have been blamed on lightning strikes in tinder-dry forest areas, after a mild winter which saw lower-than-average rainfalls.
The fires have come a week after raging blazes destroyed thousands of acres of forest near Lake Tahoe, on the California/Nevada border.