Storms overnight on Tuesday helped contain some of the many wildfires burning in the U.S. Northwest, according to a report from the Associated Press.

In some spots, namely on the eastern slopes of the North Cascades mountain range in Washington, around half an inch of rain fell and the cooler temperatures and high humidity lent a hand to firefighters battling a rash of fires in the region.

While the wet weather was a welcome relief to crews, the threat of lightning in a time of severe drought has serious implications, like sparking another fire in Washington, smiliar to the one that burnt 300 homes earlier this summer.

In the storms on Tuesday, about 7,000 lightning strikes hit central Oregon and started at least 14 new fires, according to the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center.

For Oregon officials, the biggest threat in the state is a fire in Hell's Canyon near the border with Idaho. It's burned 42 square miles so far and is spreading through treacherous terrain that firefighters cannot access.

Things aren't looking better in Washington, as President Barack Obama on Monday signed a disaster declaration in response to several fires over the past months that have burnt hundreds of homes, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. That declaration directs federal aid to supplement state and local recover efforts.

California is also battling blazes in the midst of the three-year drought that is plaguing the region, providing life to fires and causing water-usage restrictions on residents. Firefighters have completely contained a blaze north of the town of Day, which had burned 20 square miles.

California's Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Tuesday asked Congress to allow federal disaster funds to be spent in the state on large wildfires.

"The difference we are seeing is how quickly the fires are growing once they start," said Ken Pimlott, chief of California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection. "Every afternoon like clockwork, these fires are almost explosive."