Western wildfires continue to threaten homes and residents

High temps, lightning spark new California wildfires

Wind-whipped flames along the Oregon-California border continue to rage out of control, burning at least three homes, threatening hundreds of others.

Nancy Rineman and her husband returned to find their rental cabins had burned to the ground.

"For years, the whole time we lived here that's always been a fear and so it really is kind of a big shock," she said.

In Northern California at least a dozen new fires broke out this weekend, where dry lightning, temperatures over 100 degrees and the severe drought have made the already bad fire conditions even worse.

Lightning caused at least one new fire in central Washington, right in the shadow of the worst wildfire in Washington State history. The Carlton Complex fire has burned for nearly three weeks and destroyed more than 300 homes. It is now 82 percent contained.

Joan Windsor had only moments to escape the latest fire in Washington's Okanagan County.

"People started pounding on the door and they just said 'get out,' " said Windsor. "That whole section...was just a wall of smoke being blown this way and it was fast. It was incredibly fast."

Her home was spared, but hundreds more remain under evacuation.

"Never thought I'd want to see the first snow fly," she said. "But I do. It is so dry."

And there's little chance of any relief anytime soon.

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