Affluent Idaho resort area braces for more wildfire evacuations

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Crews battling a wildfire that destroyed six upscale homes and forced 600 people from a resort area in Idaho on Tuesday braced for strong winds as authorities warned scores more homeowners and businesses to prepare to evacuate at a moment's notice.

The so-called Cape Horn fire in northern Idaho has scorched 2,000 acres of mountain spruce and pine forests hugging multimillion-dollar cabins and condominium developments on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho's largest lake.

The fire, which erupted on Sunday and whose cause is under investigation, comes at the height of the tourist season for lakeside communities in a region known for water-skiing, boating and fishing.

It is among dozens of large blazes burning out of control across the drought-stricken U.S. West, where federal fire managers say nearly three times as many acres have burned so far this year as in the same period last year, the National Fire Information Center said.

In the Idaho Panhandle, 150 firefighters backed by air-tankers and fire boats contended on Tuesday with thick smoke that poured into the resort town of Bayview, where a local restaurant was among businesses and residences marked for pre-evacuation.

"Hopefully if we need to get out of here, we'll do it in an orderly fashion and won't be a panic scene," said Mario DeLeon Jr., whose family owns Mario's Mexican Restaurant.

Firefighters were aided overnight Monday by cooler temperatures and higher humidity that checked the growth of the blaze, said Manny Cordova, federal fire information officer.

But forecasts on Tuesday for hot, dry conditions and strong winds could hamper efforts to build containment lines in steep, rugged terrain, he said.

"With Mother Nature, things can change pretty drastically," Cordova said, adding that fire engines were stationed near homes in the path of the blaze and owners of the nearly 300 threatened properties were being encouraged to clear any remaining vegetation.

Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter declared a disaster emergency on Monday in the two counties affected by the fire, freeing up federal funds to help combat the blaze.

In Oregon, a lightning-sparked fire near the town of Dayville has blackened 26,517 acres and remained only 15 percent contained.

In Washington state, nearly a dozen wildfires were burning, including in a rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula where a 1,500-acre blaze was 21 percent contained.

(Editing by Eric M. Johnson and Eric Walsh)