Resources stretched to limit as US wildfires take hold

International wildfire crews could be called to help fight blazes in the bone-dry American West as officials boosted the US wildfire alert to its highest level.

“It’s driven by a couple of things: the number of large fires we have, and also the fires are occurring in several states and in several geographic areas,” Randy Eardley, a spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Centre in Boise, Idaho said. “The resources we have are being stretched thin.”

The wildfire preparedness level was raised to five as dry lightning blasted and sparked dozens of new blazes in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah, where firefighters have been stretched thin by nearly 70 fires bigger than 100 acres burning in 12 states.

National Guard units could also be mobilised under the new level.

Since Monday, there have been more than 1,000 new fires reported across the West, Eardley said.

Eardley said dry, windy conditions, thunderstorms and temperatures reaching above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38C) were forecast to continue across most of the Rocky Mountain West next week.

In Nevada, crews yesterday battled more than two dozen fires burning across nearly 200 square miles (518 square kilometres) of rangeland and timber in the northern part of the state. One threatened hundreds of homes on the edge of Reno.

The largest wildfire in Oregon, the Egley Complex near Burns in the southeast portion of the state, had grown to more than 200 square miles (518 square kilometres) and was threatening a handful of homes, officials said.