WENATCHEE, Wash. - The Chelan County Sheriff's Dept. says a suspect is under investigation in connection with a brush fire that has burned more than 6,000 acres and threatened homes near Wenatchee.

"This is a classic, wildland urban interface fire," said Okanogan and Wenatchee Nation Forests public affairs officer Ken Frederick.

Classic because the fire burned dangerously close to new homes and homes still under construction.

Between 250 and 270 homes had been evacuated and more were under alert as winds pushed the fire east and north toward the Eaglerock Subdivision in the Warm Springs Canyon area.

At least three outbuildings have been destroyed and a few houses damaged, said Jeri Freimuth, a fire information officer. No injuries were reported, although one firefighter was treated for dehydration at Central Wahington Hospital.

The fire was 10 percent contain as of Sunday evening.

Tom Hackenmiller

A plane drops fire retardant at the top of Crestview Avenue in the Sunnyslope area of Wenatchee.

"It's a pretty dynamic situation at this point. Until we can get people in there to see what the situation is we don't know," Freimuth said.

The fire was reported about 2:15 p.m. Saturday near the Highline Canal. It was determined to be human caused, according to a news release issued by Chelan County Fire District 1 officials.

Roughly 200 firefighters from around the state have responded to the fire, as well as four helicopters and three fire retardant tankers.

Sustained winds were expected throughout the day, with warm weather forecast for the next few days as well as increased chances of lighting.

In northeastern Washington, a brush fire had burned about 1,000 to 1,200 acres near the old mining town of Nighthawk near the Canadian border.

The fire just west of Oroville was burning in grass, sage and scattered timber on federal Bureau of Land Management land, and no structures were threatened.

Retardant drops helped to significantly slow the fire's progress Saturday, but no figure was immediately available for what percentage of the fire was contained.

About 10 miles south of Asotin, in Cloverland, a brush/range fire on Sunday had burned more than 10,000 acres. No roads were closed, but people were being asked to stay out of the area.

An incident commander said the preliminary investigation is pointing to fireworks as the cause. Asotin High School was being used as the command station for fire crews.

AP Photo/BLM, Sean Rothwell

This photo provided by the Bureau of Land Management shows the Drewsey Fire burning northeast of Drewsey, Ore.

Highway closed, reopened as Oregon range burns

A highway through sparsely populated Eastern Oregon was closed Saturday for the second time in a week as firefighters battled grassland fires sparked by lightning.

The largest fire, named Barlett Mountain, was burning on 20,000 acres east of Burns, the only large town on U.S. 20 between Bend on the east flank of the Cascade Range and Ontario on the Idaho border.

The state highway department closed a portion of U.S. 20 on Saturday because smoke reduced visibility, and then reopened it.

Earlier in the week, and farther to the west, a fire named Round Top Butte forced a closure.

Another blaze gave a scare to the ranch community of Drewsey, population about 20, which was put under evacuation orders.

Retired rancher Pat Cronin, 78, said the winds shifted, sparing the community.

"That fire was a-goin' leaps and bounds," he said. "But the fire we was afraid of, it went the other way. I can never remember a fire like this. It really went."

In Central Oregon, firefighters were working to contain more than a dozen fires burning throughout the area. The majority of the fires are contained and controlled.

The three largest fires include the Millican East fire, Fire 403 and Fire 428.

Elsewhere:

- A lightning storm late Friday set fires and knocked out power to about 7,000 customers in Klamath and Lake counties.

- Authorities in Marion County said they arrested two teenagers on arson and illegal fireworks charges after they fired Roman candles out of a vehicle and set a brush fire.

The two were leaving the Three Pools Recreation Site in the Willamette National Forest. The fire was extinguished before it could get to nearby homes, youth camps and forest lands. Deputies said the fireworks reportedly came from Washington state.

- Near Arlington along the Columbia River in Gilliam County, firefighters battled two blazes totaling nearly 30,000 acres, some of it cropland.

It's harvest time in the wheat fields, and Sheriff Gary Bettencourt said at least one of the fires and perhaps both were caused by combines. One of the machines was burned, he said, and a large amount of ripe wheat went up in flames.

Idaho fire causes power problems

Firefighters continue to battle eight fires caused by a lightning storm on Friday afternoon.

Idaho Power on Sunday was asking customers to reduce electricity use while it makes repairs to one of its major power substations knocked out by fire.

The company's Mid-Point Substation in southern Idaho near Shoshone went down after the 35,000-acre Red Bridge fire burned to its base and caused a power pole to fall on a transformer.

That took out 2,000 megawatts of power, though officials say they have since restored 500 megawatts.

Jeff Beaman, director of corporate communications for the company, said crews are working to repair the substation and 43 power poles leading to it that collapsed because of the fire.