Western Wildfires Still Growing, But Better Weather Helps Crews Make Progress Fire officials warned they still had a long way to go before knocking down the blazes burning the American West By Nathan Howard • NBCUniversal Media, LLC Lower winds and better weather helped crews using bulldozers and helicopters battling the nation’s largest wildfire in southern Oregon while a Northern California wildfire crossed into Nevada, prompting evacuations as blazes burn across the West. Oregon’s Bootleg Fire grew to 624 square miles — over half the size of Rhode Island. However, authorities said higher humidity Wednesday and overnight and better conditions allowed crews to improve fire lines. The fire also was approaching an area burned by a previous fire on its active southeastern flank, raising hopes that a lack of fuel could reduce its spread and the forecast was for favorable firefighting weather again Thursday.