After months of hype, Northwest braces for solar eclipse

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — After months of hype, it's almost here.

The first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in the United States since 1918 is expected to draw up to a million people to Oregon - where the moon's shadow will first make landfall - and crowds have already begun clogging roadways, campgrounds and hotels for hundreds of miles.

A growing wildfire in the central part of the state Friday complicated plans, and authorities ordered mandatory evacuations for about 1,500 people just as thousands more were expected to start arriving. Officials were closely watching another blaze near a Native American reservation.