Wildfires blasting through West draw states to lend support

BLY, Ore. (AP) — Out-of-state crews are heading to Montana to battle a blaze that injured five firefighters as the West struggles with a series of fires that have ravaged rural lands and destroyed homes. Authorities say progress is being made on the nation’s largest blaze, the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, but less than half of it has been contained and thousands of homes remain threatened. Meanwhile, crews from California and Utah are coming to Montana where five firefighters were injured Thursday as they worked the Devil’s Creek blaze near the town of Jordan. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for four northern counties because of wildfires that he said were causing “conditions of extreme peril.”