Idaho wildfire forces evacuations near Sun Valley An erratic, fast-moving wildfire raged through sagebrush and pine trees and threatened the Idaho mountain resort community of Sun Valley on Saturday as residents of 2,250 homes in the area were ordered to leave. Evacuation orders, which already included homes in drainages and foothills west of Hailey, spread Saturday to an additional 200 homes north of Ketchum in central Idaho, said Bronwyn Nickel, spokeswoman for Blaine County. Nickel said one home and one smaller structure had already been destroyed, and others were "definitely at risk." The lightning-sparked blaze burned across 92,754 acres Saturday, up dramatically from the 64,236 acres burning Friday, said Shawna Hartman, a spokeswoman for the Beaver Creek fire. About 700 state and federal firefighters were working to contain a blaze that Hartman said was unusually intense and volatile. The fire, which Hartman described as shaped like "a giant Pac-Man with its mouth open," posed a particular risk to an affluent resort region that has served as a retreat for Mark Zuckerberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others. "Sun Valley is right in the middle of its open mouth," Hartman said. An additional 1,000 firefighters were reporting to the scene Saturday, with the National Guard expected to arrive Sunday. Wildfires generally subside overnight, Hartman said, but this one "picked up intensity and even made a run, which is very uncommon." The overnight activity strengthened an already unpredictable blaze, which officials said had been jumping with little warning from ridge to ridge and burning in all directions with equal intensity. Hartman attributed the fire's behavior to wind gusts topping out at 30 mph, low humidity, dry ground fuels and the area's curvy topography. The fire's proximity to homes has provoked a robust and coordinated response in a region familiar with big blazes. Private insurance companies have sent in their own engine crews to bolster structural protection for homes that can cost millions of dollars, Nickel said. In addition, Sun Valley Resort has turned on water cannons, normally used to make snow in the winter, in order to keep grass and trees moist. The Sun Valley area is under preevacuation orders. Jack Sibbach, a resort spokesman, said the fire wasn't yet threatening lodges on the mountain, but its path so far had left little indication of when it might. "It's acted not normal," he said. Sibbach himself evacuated his home south of Ketchum on Friday morning, a precautionary move that he said was designed to take pressure off an area with few access points. He said the wildfire had dropped dense smoke into Sun Valley each morning, obscuring the view of mountains only half a mile away. That smoke grounded air tankers Saturday that had been dumping retardant and water on the fire's perimeters. About 50 engines were assigned to structural protection as winds from the southwest pushed the fire closer to homes. Elsewhere in the West, which has been scarred recently by scores of major blazes, firefighters beat back two wildfires that had been threatening homes in northern Utah. Evacuations were lifted Saturday for homes around Willow Springs, 60 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, after a wildfire there burned 31,000 acres and damaged some homes, fire spokeswoman Joanna Wilson said. Meanwhile, officials reported progress on the Rockport Fire near Park City that destroyed eight homes last week. It had burned 1,920 acres and was 58% contained Saturday.