PORTLAND (AP) — A fast-moving fire fueled by gusting winds killed one person, forced dozens of households to evacuate and prompted Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to declare a state of emergency Wednesday.

The flames near The Dalles started Tuesday and expanded Wednesday to more than 70 square miles as the fire spread into vast fields of wheat while desperate farmers tried to salvage their crops in the midst of the harvest season.

One person was found dead Wednesday a short distance from a burned-out tractor. The person was likely trying to use the heavy farm machinery to create a fire break to hold back flames, the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Firefighters crept into the fields in water trucks and attempted to douse the leading edges of the fire from behind as it burned through acres of wheat, with everything behind the flames charred black.

The news of the fatality also came as authorities on Wednesday ordered additional mandatory evacuations in Moro and Grass Valley and closed U.S. Route 97 in that area.

The conflagration doesn’t bode well for a Pacific Northwest fire season that’s expected to be worse than normal, with drought conditions in many areas and above-average temperatures forecast through September, the center said.

It comes as other states across the American West, including California and Colorado, have struggled with massive blazes that have torn through land gripped by drought.

In Oregon, very low humidity, high temperatures and winds gusting up to 30 mph made the flames explosive in thin grasses and wheat fields, said Robin DeMario, a spokeswoman for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

“These light fuels go up very quickly,” DeMario said. “The grassy stalks are very dry, they have lost the moisture in those stalks, and so if a fire start begins, we call it ‘flashy fuels’ because it burns very fast and very hot.”

The Columbia River Gorge separating Oregon and Washington is still recovering from a wildfire last year that scorched 75 square miles, ravaged popular hiking trails and marred stunning vistas.

Elsewhere in the state, several fires started by lightning over the weekend burned as temperatures flirted with triple digits.

One in southern Oregon forced the evacuation of two houses and 33 more homeowners to get ready to flee Wednesday after the flames spread near the California border.

A grass fire that started southeast of Heppner on Tuesday spread between 15,000 and 20,000 acres, and required assistance from crews as far as Pilot Rock and Pendleton, as well as local ranchers and farmers.

The fire was accidentally started on Hinton Creek by a rancher using some equipment on his property, said Melissa Ross of the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office. No one was injured in the blaze and no structures were burned. Eleven residences and 43 outbuildings were threatened on Hinton Creek, and six residences and 23 outbuildings were threatened on Willow Creek. The fire burned grassland as well as several fences and corrals.

The fire started Tuesday around 1 p.m. Firefighters were released around 10:30 p.m. that night.

The fire burned between Hinton Creek and Willow Creek, and from east of Heppner up Hanna Arbuckle Road.

Bruce Young, of Bruce Young Logging near Heppner, said nine people from his company were assisting with the fire from about 2 to 11 p.m.

They brought a grader, a CAT, two water tenders and an engine to the fire.

“It was very extensive,” he said of the fire. “We engaged it down low, securing it, flanking it, and then heading to the head of it.”

He said they contained their side of the fire around 7:30 p.m., and then were asked to move to the Hinton Creek side, near the head of the blaze.

Heppner Fire received mutual aid from Boardman, Condon, East Umatilla County, Helix, Hermiston, Ione, Lexington, Oregon Department of Forestry, Pendleton, Pilot Rock, Station 7, South Gilliam County, Stanfield and the U.S. Forest Service.

Many local ranchers also helped fight the blaze, and locals also provided food and drinks for those fighting the fire.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest, a small fire near Spokane Valley, Washington, prompted evacuation notices for 700 homes. Several homes caught fire, according to Spokane Valley Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Rose. Officials said at least one structure had been completely destroyed.

In California, a deadly forest fire was spreading west of Yosemite National Park, keeping a key route into the park shut down during tourist season and forcing communities to evacuate. But the park’s trails, campgrounds, restaurants and lodges are open, though smoke is polluting the air and limiting visibility.

More than 1,800 firefighters are battling the blaze that started Friday and now spans 27 square miles, the U.S. Forest Service said.

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Jayati Ramakrishnan from the East Oregonian and Gillian Flaccus from the Associated Press contributed to this report.