BOISE, Idaho, (UPI) -- A team of firefighting commanders from across the United States has arrived in Idaho to plan a strategy to defeat a series of wildfires in the tinder-dry state, with the largest burning more than 70,000 acres.

The nine-member Type I Incident management team flown into the Eastern Great Basin region on Saturday will figure out how best to deploy resources by looking at the big picture in terms of which fires pose the greatest threats, rather than trying to fight each fire individually.

One of the Idaho fires is burning around the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), an 890-acre complex in the southeastern desert involved in a variety of nuclear science research projects, including management of nuclear waste.

Kathy Williams, a spokeswoman for the Eastern Idaho Interagency Fire Center, said no new fires were reported in the Basin early Saturday, however weather conditions were such that it looked like it would be a long weekend for the crews trying to contain the blazes.

"It is hot and very dry," Williams said. "The winds haven't been gusty, but the air is smoky, and it is becoming really hazy."

The National Interagency Coordinating Council, a government agency that coordinates the deployment of firefighting resources around the country, said Saturday that 56 wildfires were burning around the nation and had consumed nearly 481,000 acres, and weather was expected to be a problem for at least the next several days.

"Several fires thought to have been contained or near containment, made large runs during (Friday) afternoon and evening," the NICC said. "The hot, dry weather is supposed to only get more hot and more dry over the next few days, with many areas experiencing triple-digit temperatures and single-digit relative humidity.

Roddy Baughman, a fire weather expert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the weather forecast for the next 1-3 months indicated above-normal temperatures throughout the entire West.

"My guess is the fire season will run abnormally long in the West," he said.

In California, where the fire season has been fairly benign thus far, a fire that forced evacuations of summer youth camps in the Sequoia National Forest 15 miles north of Kernville was 29 percent contained Saturday morning with nearly 26,000 acres burned. A 3,000-acre fire in the Los Padres National Forest was being reigned in thanks to a successful backfire along scenic Highway 1.

Nevada firefighters had to cut holes in rangeland fences to allow around

1,000 head of cattle to escape an intense, lightning-caused fire near the

town of Wells. The blaze quickly burned 54,000 acres and was completely out of control Saturday morning.

Fires were also burning across virtually every other state in the West, however the largest battle was going on in the Eastern Great Basin of Idaho and Utah where nearly 30 fires were considered active.

The largest blaze was the Flattop fire near Aberdeen, which has burned more than 70,000 acres, but was 60 percent contained after burning into the site of a previous fire where the fuel supply was much smaller.

The Fisher Springs fire, 8 miles southeast of Pocatello, has burned 22,600 acres and forced evacuation of some residents of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. A small 10-acre fire in a wooded area of the reservation was

being given a high priority, Williams said, because it was burning in an area considered sacred by the Shoshone tribe.

Fire commanders were also very concerned about the Clear Creek fire in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, which has burned 60,000 acres and is 30-percent contained, and the Twin Fire, a 400-acre blaze that is burning in a basin, but could turn into a major problem if it gets out of that natural corral.

"We feel it's important to catch this fire while we have the opportunity," said Joe Stam, the Alaska-based commander of the more than 500 firefighters from 26 states who are on the fire line. "It's still early in the season and if this fire gets away from us, it could burn for a long time."

The 30,000-acre fire near the INEEL facility outside of Idaho Falls burned through grass and sagebrush to the fence around the Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center on Thursday, but did not cause any damage. Officials of the lab, which is run for the Department of Energy by Bechtel Corp., said

firefighters were equipped with dosimeters that would register exposure to radiation, and air samples were taken around the fire scene to determine if there was any contamination.

Employees of the center were evacuated Thursday, however, returned to work Friday, the lab said.