UPDATE 1-Raging U.S. wildfires burn homes, force evacuations, kill horses

(Updates with reduced evacuation orders and details on
firefighting efforts)
By David Ryder and Laura Zuckerman
CHELAN, Wash./SALMON, Idaho, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Dozens of
wildfires burning across the drought-parched U.S. Northwest on
Tuesday have destroyed scores of structures, sparked evacuation
orders for thousands of people, and killed at least 27 wild
horses.
More than 100 homes have been destroyed since Friday in
Washington state, Idaho and Oregon, authorities said.
About 200 U.S. soldiers have been called in to reinforce
civilian firefighters battling almost 90 blazes that have
blackened more than 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) across
the country's arid West. The mobilization was the first of its
kind since 2006. ID:nL1N10S1EK
To help battle the blazes, the U.S. Forest Service said fire
managers are considering asking Australia and New Zealand to
lend firefighters. Canadian crews, smokejumpers, and air tankers
have already been assigned to northern Idaho and Montana.
The year-to-date acreage burned so far is about 7.1 million
acres (2.9 million hectares) nationwide, according to the
National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. It is the
first time in 20 years that the area charred has exceeded 7
million acres by this date, the center said.
In north-central Washington, a cluster of wildfires
destroyed at least 35 homes and 21 outbuildings on the outskirts
of Chelan, a resort town at the southern tip of Lake Chelan,
sheriff's spokesman Rich Magnussen said.
Officials halved to 1,000 the number of residences under
evacuation orders on Tuesday from Monday as previously burned
areas cooled, while firefighters prepared to face strong winds
forecast over coming days, Magnussen said.
Officials expected to find as many as 50 homes and many more
outbuildings burned as the county assessor continues in-person
tallies, Magnussen said.
In Idaho, at least 27 wild horses were burned to death by a
massive wildfire southwest of Boise, said U.S. Bureau of Land
Management spokeswoman Heather Tiel-Nelson.
Two other wild horses were euthanized, and Tiel-Nelson said
more may be found killed by the so-called Soda fire, which was
nearing containment on Tuesday after burning more than 280,000
acres (110,000 hectares).
In west-central Idaho, dozens of residents had to evacuate
their homes near the resort town of McCall. Others were told to
prepare to leave at a moment's notice.
In northern Idaho, firefighters battling a 58,000-acre
(23,000-hectare) blaze reported cooler temperatures and higher
humidity, which let them make significant gains for the first
time since it was sparked by lightning on Thursday.
The so-called Clearwater Complex of fires, which was at
about 25 percent containment on Tuesday, has destroyed 50 houses
and 80 outbuildings near the town of Kamiah, Idaho. An elderly
woman died when she fell and hit her head as she was trying to
secure her backyard chickens and flee with her husband.
In central Oregon, 26 dwellings were destroyed over the
weekend. About a dozen large fires are burning across the state,
threatening hundreds of structures, authorities said.