Wildfires scorch thousands of acres across the West

FILLMORE, Utah (CNN) -- Firefighters struggled to gain control of a massive wildfire in Utah on Sunday -- just one of about a dozen fires blazing throughout the western United States.

The Milford Flat fire in western Utah grew to more than 282,000 acres Sunday, making it the largest fire in the state's recorded history, officials told CNN affiliate KSL-TV.

"I don't know what to compare it to," said Susan Marzec, an official with the state's Bureau of Land Management.

Earlier in the day, the fire was reported at about 160,000 acres.

"We're fast approaching 300,000 acres, if we're not already there," Mike Melton, fire management officer for Utah's Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, told KSL. "I was on the initial attack of this fire in the air, and this fire just ran away from us. We couldn't put a dent in it."

Lightning triggered the fire on Friday, authorities said, and the blistering heat and extra-dry conditions hampered firefighters' efforts to quell the flames. Watch firefighters try to fight the blaze »

Utah and neighboring states saw 12,221 lightning strikes in just one hour on Sunday, CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said.

"These strikes -- they hit the fuels -- the vegetation that's so dried out," Jeras said. "You put the ingredients together, along with the gusty winds, and it spells trouble."

Additionally, Jeras said, the fires are being fueled by dry thunderstorms -- which bring lightning and wind, but no rain, because the precipitation evaporates before it reaches the ground.

Two people died in a vehicle accident caused by smoke from the fire, Karen Feary of Richfield Fire Dispatch told CNN on Sunday.

Authorities closed a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 15 and a portion of Interstate 70 in Richfield, then later reopened it. They have also warned that homes, bridges, rail lines and a large geothermal power plant about 14 miles northeast of Milford in Beaver County are at risk.

One home and some other small structures have been consumed, authorities said.

The fire also destroyed a gift shop.

"We didn't have a minute's warning, and as you can see, everything's burned," shop owner Michael Rutherford told CNN. "Everything's gone. We have lost all of our inventory. ... It's all gone."

Windy conditions across the Great Basin are adding to the problem. A series of fires are burning in the eastern portion of the region that includes parts of Nevada, Idaho, California, Utah, Wyoming and Oregon.

As of Sunday, the National Interagency Fire Center was reporting nine fires burning in Nevada, four in California, three in Oregon and Utah and two in Wyoming.

The National Incident Center said 419 fires were reported over the weekend, and 56 of them are more than 500 acres. E-mail to a friend

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