Dry Northwest burns as fire season in West extends

Across the West, high winds and temperatures exacerbated already dangerous fire conditions, prompting the National Weather Service to issue red-flag warnings for wide swaths of eastern Washington and Oregon, Idaho, Montana and all of Wyoming.

Blazes have scorched more than 8.1 million acres across the West so far in 2012, up from the 10-year average of 6.1 million, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Mild fire seasons combined with moderate winter weather recently contributed to a buildup of undergrowth that fuels fires, said Jeremy Sullens, a wildfire analyst for predictive services at the center. The dry summer exacerbated things.