MAZAMA, Wash. - A 20-mile stretch of the North Cascades Highway is likely to remain closed at least through the end of the month by the Cedar Creek Fire burning in north central Washington, officials say. The highway, also known as State Route 20, is closed from milepost 185, seven miles west of Winthrop, to milepost 165. It is the only U.S. roadway across the Cascade Mountains north of Highway 2.

A fire that started early Thursday morning in Whitman County north of Colton ballooned to approximately 2,000 acres and was still growing. The blaze, officially titled the Steptoe Canyon Fire, is zero percent contained and has prompted Level 1 evacuations, according to a news release from the Washington State Fire Marshal’s Office.

There’s an increase of evacuation notices in the Cedar Creek Fire which continues to grow near Mazama in Okanogan County. It includes several Level 2 (GET READY) and one Level 3 (Evacuate NOW ) alerts. A Red Cross shelter is available at Methow Valley Elementary School. The fire covers more than 8,400 acres and is 11 percent contained as of Wednesday morning. There are 351 people working the fire.

PORTLAND — Wildfires in the American West, including one burning in Oregon that’s currently the largest in the U.S., are creating hazy skies as far away as New York as the massive infernos spew smoke and ash into the air in columns up to 6 miles (10 kilometers) high. Skies over New York City were hazy Tuesday as strong winds blew smoke east from California, Oregon, Montana and other states. Oregon’s Bootleg Fire grew to 616 square miles (1,595 square kilometers) — half the size of Rhode Island.

NESPELEM – Rising temperatures, gusty winds and low relative humidity challenged firefighters July 19 on the Chuweah Creek Fire northeast of Nespelem. Lines held, but there was some spotting and fire slop-over, according to Northwest Incident Management Team 12, which is coordinating the fire fight.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Ecologists in a vast region of wetlands and forest in remote Oregon have spent the past decade thinning young trees and using planned fires to try to restore the thick stands of ponderosa to a less fire-prone state. This week, the nation’s biggest burning wildfire provided them with an unexpected, real-world experiment. As the massive inferno half the size of Rhode Island roared into the Sycan Marsh Preserve, firefighters said the flames jumped less from treetop to treetop and instead returned to the ground, where they were easier to fight, moved more slowly and did less damage to the overall forest.

WENATCHEE -- The Washington Commissioner of Public Lands, Hilary Franz, has just announced the closure of all Department of Natural Resources-managed lands in eastern Washington effective midnight on Friday, July 23, due to extreme fire danger and ongoing drought east of the Cascades. This closure will apply to DNR-managed state lands, conservation areas, community forests and any associated roads, trails, campgrounds, recreational sites or recreational facilities.

Public lands east of the Cascades managed by the Washington state Department of Natural Resources will be closed indefinitely because of drought and the worsening wildfire season. Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz will announce the public land closure during her visit Tuesday morning to the 12,000-acre Red Apple Fire near Wenatchee. “This is never something we want to do, but we need to keep people safe,” said Ryan Rodruck, communications manager for Eastern Washington DNR.

PORTLAND — The threat of thunderstorms and lightning has prompted officials in fire-ravaged Oregon to ask for help from outside the Pacific Northwest to prepare for additional blazes as many resources are already devoted to a massive forest fire. The 569-square-mile Bootleg Fire is burning 300 miles southeast of Portland in and around the Fremont-Winema National Forest, a vast expanse of old-growth forest, lakes and wildlife refuges. Evacuations and property losses have been minimal compared with much smaller blazes in densely populated areas of California.

MAZAMA – A new fire has joined two burning in the upper Methow Valley. The fire is in addition to a pair of blazes burning west of Mazama near Highway 20 that continue to force closure of the highway, with evacuation alerts remaining in place for Mazama and the Lost River area.

Crews made good progress on the Red Apple Fire overnight and now the blaze burning above Wenatchee is holding steady at 12,228 acres. Department of Natural Resources PIO Ryan Rodruck said the fire is at 83% containment, with just a northern portion of the brush fire still technically uncontained.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The monstrous wildfire burning in Oregon has grown to a third the size of Rhode Island and spreads miles each day, but evacuations and property losses have been minimal compared with much smaller blazes in densely populated areas of California. The fire’s jaw-dropping size contrasted with its relatively small impact on people underscores the vastness of the American West and offers a reminder that Oregon, which is larger than Britain, is still a largely rural state, despite being known mostly for its largest city, Portland.

The 2021 wildfire season is intensifying in the western United States, with 80 large fires burning as of the beginning of the week, including an Oregon blaze covering more than 300,000 acres. Statistics from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) indicated 80 large fires have burned more than 1.15 million acres across 13 states as of Sunday.

As of Tuesday, July 13, the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center said there were 10 uncontained large fires in the Pacific Northwest. Five large fires in Oregon and five in Washington are burning a total of 298,039 acres.

It is likely to be a smoky summer in Western Washington. The rate of wildfires this year has been record-breaking in the state, and it’s on track to continue. On Thursday, a wildfire that had grown to 14 square miles was threatening more than 1,500 homes near Wenatchee. More fire brings more smoke, some which could slip into the Puget Sound region.

The Washington State Patrol is searching for the occupants of a vehicle seen leaving one in a series of 12 brush fires spread between Thurston and Mason counties “at a high rate of speed” Wednesday afternoon. “Because of how evenly those fires were spread all over I-5 from the Lewis County line all the way up Trosper Road and onto 101 into Mason County, it sure looks like one fire started after the other chronologically from south to north,” Trooper Robert Reyer told The Chronicle.

WINTHROP, Wash. - Firefighters have shut down five more miles of the North Cascades Highway west of Winthrop due to wildfires that continue to spread in the rugged, mountainous area. Twelve miles of the highway, also known as State Route 20, are now closed, from milepost 165 to milepost 177 at the Early Winters campground. U.S. Forest Service roads also are shut down in the area, meaning there is no detour or any way to get around the closure.

A red flag warning remained in place for much of Eastern Washington through Thursday night as firefighters continue to brace for breezy conditions. The National Weather Service said winds of 5 to 15 mph are expected with gusts of 25 mph possible. The red flag warning will expire at 11 p.m. Thursday. A new fire has erupted in the area of Lime Lake near Metaline Falls. The Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office has told people within five miles of Lime Lake to evacuate because of fire danger.

Several wildfires continued to burn in the Spokane region Wednesday as lingering heat and drought challenged firefighting efforts. Here’s an update on the regional wildfires

Gov. Jay Inslee laid blame on climate change as he declared a drought emergency for nearly the whole state on Wednesday. “This is not political hyperbole,” Inslee said. “It is a scientific consensus that is jarring the life of every Washingtonian some way.” Only the Tacoma, Seattle and Everett metro areas are exempt from the emergency, Inslee said. Such an emergency means the water supply is projected to be 75% below average and water users may be at risk of undue hardship, according to a press release.

A large majority of residents in Bailey underestimate the possibility of a wildfire reaching their community in the foothills of the Front Range, according to survey results released last month by the University of Colorado Boulder. The same survey also showed their properties are less protected against wildfires than they believe.

Wednesday and Thursday bring us another Fire Weather Watch and Red Flag Warning for all of Eastern Washington. We will experience very dry and windy conditions with winds 15-20 mph and some gusts up to 35 mph. Relative humidity will be as low as 10% in some areas. Expect temperatures to top out at 105 on Wednesday with blowing dust as well. Thursday will be slightly cooler, and the weekend will bring temperatures down to around 90 - very cool in comparison to what we've been used to.

Crews are battling several wildfires in Washington and Oregon as fire season gets underway, raising the fire preparedness level Wednesday to its highest level of 5. That means fire activity is extremely high and resources are extremely tight, and the Washington state Department of Natural Resources is working to bring in help from other parts of the country. The eight largest fires in Washington state have scorched 94,615 acres so far, according to the official Inciweb reporting system. That includes nearly 50,000 acres of state DNR protected land.

John Nohr, the fire chief for parts of Clark and Cowlitz counties in Washington state, was driving down Interstate 5 when another firefighter asked if he’d noticed the trees. Last month’s heat dome left trees across the Portland metro area, and much of the state, browning and dried up. With little moisture in the forecast, those stands of trees pose a risk of turning into major fires. A healthy tree can resist a small fire, Nohr said. But with dead needles all on one side, a fire could easily climb to the top of the tree. At that point, even green needles on the tree could not resist the heat, allowing the flames to spread and set other trees ablaze.

Federal wildfire officials say eight major fires are burning more than 220,000 acres in Washington and Oregon. That doesn’t count several other fires burning in Idaho. The Northwest Interagency Coordinating Center says four of the region’s largest fires are in southern Oregon, including the largest, the Bootleg fire.

The North Cascades Highway west of Winthrop is closing because of wildfire. Monday morning’s decision by the Washington Department of Transportation to close State Route 20 between mileposts 170 and 177 is expected to last at least through the end of the day. Pictures from the highway near the Early Winters campground show flames and smoke erupting from the forest.

Firefighters were working in extreme temperatures across the U.S. West and struggling to contain wildfires, the largest burning in California and Oregon, as another heat wave baked the region, straining power grids. The largest wildfire of the year in California — the Beckwourth Complex — was raging along the Nevada state line and has burned about 134 square miles as state regulators asked consumers to voluntarily “conserve as much electricity as possible” to avoid any outages starting Monday afternoon. In Oregon, the Bootleg Fire exploded to 224 square miles as it raced through heavy timber in the Fremont-Winema National Forest, near the Klamath County town of Sprague River. The fire disrupted service on three transmission lines providing up to 5,500 megawatts of electricity to neighboring California.