Oregon Fire Is The Largest Burning In The U.S. Winds And Thunderstorms Are Exacerbating It.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Powerful winds and hundreds of lightning strikes from thunderstorms rattled eastern Oregon and Idaho Wednesday afternoon, cutting power and stoking fires, including one in Oregon that is already the largest active blaze in the nation.

The Durkee Fire, burning near the Oregon-Idaho border about 130 miles (209 kilometers) west of Boise, Idaho, caused the closure of a stretch of Interstate 84 again Wednesday. Amid rapidly forming storms in the afternoon, the blaze crossed the interstate near the town of Huntington, home to about 500 people. It also merged with the Cow Valley Fire, another large blaze that had been burning nearby, Gov. Tina Kotek said.

“The wildfires in Eastern Oregon have scaled up quickly,” Kotek said in a news release Wednesday evening, calling it a dynamic situation. “We are facing strong erratic winds over the region that could impact all fires. Rain is not getting through. Some communities do not have power.”

She said she had deployed the National Guard to the region.

The nearly 420-square-mile (1,088-square-kilometer) blaze had prompted the evacuation of Huntington on Sunday, and on Wednesday city officials posted on Facebook that people remaining in town, especially those with “major health issues,” needed to leave their homes because of wildfire smoke and the lack of power. City officials also said Wednesday that gas service to residents had been shut off until the evacuation orders are lifted.

The fire approached Alison Oszman’s home in Rye Valley, a small ranching area north of Huntington, last week, but they were able to protect their property with the help of Bureau of Land Management firefighters and neighbors, using small tanker trucks and shovels. They used a small dozer