While Dozens of wildfires roar in the hot, dry west of the United States, the first fatal fire in the country was reported in a rapid fire near the California-Oregon border. "The spokesman for the protection firefighter, Suzi Brady, said Friday that the person died in the fire that began Thursday, but that she could not disclose any other details. 300 houses near Hornbook, California, a town of 250 people about 14 miles south of the Oregon border.

The 40-year-old Barbara Taylor's house was destroyed in the Klamathon fire. She said that someone found her cat "alive, but she sang."

The death was the first in the United States since two people were killed in a forest fire in Oklahoma in April.

Across the United States, most of them in the West and Alaska, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. In parts of California, Colorado, and Utah, hundreds of residents remain under evacuation orders due to aggressive forest fires, said the Weather Channel

. and forced evacuations from 2,000 more homes. According to InciWeb, the fire burned nearly 160 square kilometers and was confined to 35%.

A forest fire in central Utah destroyed about 90 structures, including houses

. The United States, which is about 700 square miles above average.

In Southern California, most normally temperate regions should grind three figures Friday and Saturday before getting some relief. The heat is caused by a massive high-pressure dome, which is also expected to spread oppressive conditions in parts of Arizona, Nevada and Utah, aggravating the forest fire conditions in these states.

Contribute: The Associated Press

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