Oregon Public Broadcasting

Northwest fire officials worry that high winds expected Thursday will hurt their ability to contain blazes.

One fire burning in the desert of southern Idaho is the largest in the nation right now. Doug Nadvornick has this Northwest fire roundup.

The blaze in south central Idaho has charred about 300,000 acres of sagebrush in just a few days, says fire spokesman Jack DeGoria.

Jack DeGoria: "It was burning in an area mostly of public lands, but some private land where there's an awful lot of ranching. So there's a lot of wide-open space."

Wild horses roam there. The flames burned part of a national monument famous for its fossil beds. DeGoria says crews have a pretty good handle on the fire, but he warns it could whip up again with heavy winds.

The worries are the same in central Idaho. Blazes are reported near the resort towns of Cascade and Stanley.

In Oregon, a series of blazes have charred about 30,000 acres on the Warm Springs Reservation.

Several smaller fires are burning in the northern Oregon Cascades.

Tuesday, a brush fire near Ashland jumped Interstate 5 and destroyed 11 homes.