BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Wildfires burning in southwestern and central Idaho scorched thousands of acres of grass, sage and pine, as near 100-degree heat helped the flames spread.
Still, officials said hundreds of firefighters had made significant progress in containing the blazes.
The National Fire Information Center in Boise reported Monday that just two large fires, the 2-square-mile Falls Creek blaze on the Salmon-Challis National Forest and the 34-square-mile Snake One fire near Weiser at the Oregon border, were burning in the state.
So far, Idaho's fire season has been relatively mild. While lightning-caused blazes have torched more than 350 square miles, including the 312-square-mile Clover Fire in late July on federal Bureau of Land Management territory south of Twin Falls, firefighters say they've gotten off relatively easy compared to past years.
''On the Salmon-Challis National Forest, our fire season has been great,'' said Gail Baer, a Forest Service spokeswoman. ''We haven't had the number of fires we've had in the past to date.
''But even though we haven't had as many fires, our big fire season is really coming up,'' Baer added, pointing to five small lightning-caused fires ignited on her territory over the weekend. ''We're not out of the woods yet.''
About 60 percent of the Falls Creek fire, burning in steep terrain near the Lemhi Range 25 northeast of Challis, had been contained as of Monday by 82 firefighters. They expect to have the blaze under control later this week, Baer said, adding the flames were helping burn off excess fuels in the area.
Some 200 miles to the west, 550 firefighters had contained 40 percent of the Snake One fire that singed sage, grass and pockets of timber in the rugged Snake River Canyon about 21 miles northwest of the small town of Weiser, near the border with Oregon.
The Snake One fire has cost about $700,000 to fight so far, as crews have deployed six helicopters, 15 engines and four bulldozers to build fire lines. Officials say two homes, a lodge and six outbuildings were threatened.
Still, ''significant progress was made on the south and west sides of the fire,'' said Dorothy Harvey, a spokeswoman for the Payette National Forest.
