More crews arrive to help battle Idaho wildfire
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/08/17/2711054/1600-homes-evacuated-as-idaho.html
By TODD DVORAK — Associated Press
HAILEY, Idaho — A wildfire stoked by strong winds made a push to the north Saturday and forced more people from their homes outside the posh central Idaho ski town of Ketchum, bringing the number of residences evacuated by the blaze to more than 2,300.
Despite the adverse conditions and extreme fire behavior, some progress was made on the Beaver Creek Fire's south end, where crews conducted mop-up along the borders of blackened foothills west of the Hailey.
Lightning ignited the blaze Aug. 7. Fire officials estimated it grew to 144 square miles Friday night, fed by dry timber and underbrush. But they expect a more accurate size assessment after a plane with infrared cameras flies over the burn Saturday night.
The fire is 6 percent contained.
More than 700 firefighters have been deployed to the mountains west of this affluent region, where celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis own pricey getaways. Five more hotshot crews arrived Saturday, and more are expected to arrive this weekend to continue focusing on protecting homes in a sparsely populated county ......
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