By Rich McKay

(Reuters) -Winds and lightning strikes have sparked and fanned wildfires across the Pacific Northwest this week, including the largest fire currently burning in the U.S., which was rapidly expanding near the Oregon-Idaho border on Friday.

The Durkee Fire near Huntington, Oregon, has scorched 600 square miles (1,600 square km), an area more than half the size of Rhode Island’s land mass, authorities said. It is threatening several towns.

The blaze was set off by lightning on July 17, and wind gusts up to 60 mph (100 kph) drove the flames across brush, timberland and ranches, killing hundreds of cattle. The fire was only 20% contained on Friday, officials said.

While there is zero chance of rain through next week, winds have dropped and cooler air is in store, said meteorologist Marc Chenard of the National Weather Service.

“Hopefully it gives firefighters a break,” he said.

As of Thursday, wildfires this year have burned almost 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) in Oregon and 125,900 acres in Washington, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland, Oregon.

In 2020, the worst year in recent memory, Oregon wildfires scorched more than 1.14 million acres, according to a tally by CBS TV affiliate KOIN.

In California, the Park Fire, believed to have been started by an arsonist, has forced the evacuation of more than 4,000 residents in Butte County, about 100 miles northeast of Sacramento.

A suspect was arrested on Thursday, accused of pushing a burning car down a bone-dry gully.

The fire grew uncontrolled overnight from 125,000 acres on Thursday to 178,090 acres on Friday afternoon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. More than a hundred buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

“The biggest challenge with this fire is getting to it,” said Fire Captain Dan Collins. “It’s steep land with almost no roads. It’s hard to get our people and equipment to the fire lines.”

More than 1,600 firefighters were deployed to contain the blaze, CalFire said.

Forecasters warned that winds would reach 30 miles mph (50 kph) on Friday and through the weekend. Combined with low humidity, it is a recipe for rapid growth, officials said.

Smoke from fires in western Canada and the Pacific Northwest have brought hazy skies and unhealthy air from the Rocky Mountains to Minneapolis and as far east as Detroit, weather reports said.

Denver had the worst air quality in the U.S. on Friday and ranked the 30th worst in the world, according to IQAir, a group that tracks air pollution across the globe.

Much of the smoke coming into the Central and Eastern U.S. comes from a raging wildfire in the mountainous Jasper National Park in the Canadian province of Alberta.

The park and the town of Jasper, which draws more than 2 million tourists a year, were evacuated on Monday, displacing 10,000 residents and 15,000 park visitors. As much as half of the structures in the town could be damaged or destroyed, officials said, as the blaze burned more than 89,000 acres as of late Thursday.

Videos posted on social media show entire streets leveled by the blazes in the Alberta province, with scorched trees, charred metal skeletons of cars, and nothing but rubble where homes and businesses had stood.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Rod Nickel, Sandra Maler and William Mallard)

Cranston Western Little League Softball is on the doorstep of reaching the national tournament.

The Rhode Island state champions reached the New England regional finals with a 6-5 comeback win vs. Massachusetts on Wednesday. And now the Ocean State team plays in the winner-take-all championship in Bristol, Connecticut at noon.

If you can’t make the drive to see Rhode Island’s best, you can still watch from afar.

Stream links and television information for the championship vs. Connecticut is below.

How they got there: RI is off to the Little League Softball regional title game

How to watch the New England Little League Softball championship

Date: Friday, July 26

Time: Noon

Location: A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Leadership Training Center in Bristol, Connecticut

Stream: ESPN

Previous matchup: Rhode Island topped Connecticut, 13-3, in the opening game of the New England tournament. The Ocean State tacked on eight runs in the bottom of the fourth that broke open a 5-3 game. RI piled up eight hits and 11 RBIs in the big win.

jrousseau@providencejournal.com

On X: @ByJacobRousseau

Today, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced that the Department of Commerce and NOAA have recommended nearly $2 million for a project in Rhode Island to make the state’s coast more resilient to climate change and other coastal hazards. The awards are being made under the Biden Administration’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, a competitive, $575 million program funded through the nearly $6 billion total investment under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. 

“As part of President Biden’s commitment to combating the climate crisis, we are investing $575 million to help make sure America’s coastal communities are more resilient to the effects of climate change,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “As part of this historic investment in our nation’s climate resilience the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $2 million to help underserved communities in Rhode Island develop and implement new strategies to protect themselves from increased flooding, storm surge, and extreme weather events.” 

Administered by the Department of Commerce and NOAA, the Climate-Ready Coasts initiative is focused on investing in high-impact projects that create climate solutions by storing carbon; building resilience to coastal hazards such as extreme weather events, pollution and marine debris; restoring coastal habitats that help wildlife and humans thrive; building the capacity of underserved communities and support community-driven restoration; and providing employment opportunities.

“This historic funding is vital for helping Rhode Island communities confront the unique coastal challenges posed by a changing climate,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “The recommended project will empower Rhode Islanders to better prepare for climate change, fostering a more resilient, equitable future for these coastal communities.”

The recommended project in Rhode Island includes $1,999,777 for work with the Aquidneck Land Trust in partnership with the municipalities of Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth and Naval Station Newport. The project, Growing Regional Resilience Coordination on Aquidneck Island, capitalizes on the momentum of resilience initiatives already underway on the island. Committed to conserving the island’s open spaces and building on prior successful projects (including the conservation of over 2,800 acres), the land trust will use this opportunity to grow their island-wide approach to resilience, offering technical assistance, capacity building, and actionable strategies for responding to climate change. Implemented projects will include nature-based solutions to address threats from flooding, increasing storms, extreme temperatures, drought, sea level rise and water pollution.

“Coastal communities are on the front lines of climate change and face unique climate challenges – from flooding to water pollution to sea level rise.  This federal funding will help the Aquidneck Land Trust and its partners work collaboratively to strengthen their collective resiliency to the impacts of climate change.  I applaud their cooperative approach to mitigating the impacts of climate change for future generations and look forward to seeing the results of their work in these Rhode Island communities,” said Senator Jack Reed.

“Thanks to our Inflation Reduction Act, we’re accelerating climate resiliency across the Ocean State,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who helped shape major climate provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act. “This federal funding will provide a big boost to resiliency and conservation projects on Aquidneck Island and help strengthen our defenses against climate change.”

“As the Ocean State, coastal management is essential to protecting our communities and our way of life from the existential threat of climate change,” said Congressman Gabe Amo (RI-01). “That is why I am proud to have joined my colleagues in supporting the Aquidneck Land Trust in their quest to receive more than $2 million in federal funding. This federal investment will help expand their island-wide approach to resilience and leverage nature-based solutions to fight the climate crisis.”

Additional information is available on the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge website. 

Climate, weather, and water affect all life on our ocean planet. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict our changing environment, from the deep sea to outer space, and to manage and conserve America’s coastal and marine resources.