Officials say slightly cooler weather and winds Wednesday should help firefighters trying to prevent flames from reaching the small town of Lowman.
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An abandoned campfire caused the massive Soberanes Fire that has burned more than 44,000 acres north of Big Sur in Monterey County, Cal Fire officials said Tuesday.
The blaze also destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings in addition to damaging three structures and two outbuildings, Cal Fire officials said. A bulldozer operator working for the firefighting operation died in an accident last week.
A wildfire in a popular recreational area in Northern California grew overnight to more than 3 square miles.
The fire, which began July 22 and has pushed southeast into Los Padres National Forest, was just 25 percent contained Tuesday.
Flames from a back burn light up a ridge south west of Cachagua as firefighters battle a wildfire in east Carmel Valley, Calif., Monday, Aug. 1, 2016.
“We told all the crews this morning to keep their heads on a swivel and to be prepared for just about anything”, BLM fire spokeswoman Jesse Bender said.
It prompted an evacuation of Canyon Creek Resort and Golden Bear Estates in Winters, fire officials said.
The Yakima-Herald reported (http://goo.gl/yxcqaB ) the fire that has scorched about 273 square miles was up to 20 percent contained, from 10 percent Tuesday morning.
On the outskirts of Los Angeles, crews had almost surrounded a 65-square-mile blaze that killed one man and destroyed 18 homes.
The blaze burning near the scenic Big Sur region of California has charred nearly 73 square miles by Wednesday evening.
Farther north, firefighters have nearly controlled a 10-square-mile fire in a wilderness study area near where the Burning Man counterculture festival is held.
Crater Lake National Park remained open as a wildfire grew to more than 400 acres.
Utah firefighters say evacuations have been lifted as they get the upper hand on a small wildfire burning near homes south of Salt Lake City.
Officials said the blaze spread quickly through tinder-dry dry grass and brush. Authorities say some fences were damaged, but no homes have been lost.
More than a dozen homes were destroyed in Montana, and evacuations were ordered in Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming. It has burned two other buildings. But the annual number of large wildfires in the American West has increased by more than 75 percent, from roughly 140 fires in the 1980s to 250 fires in the 2000s, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported in 2014.
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The only area still evacuated was Granite Creek in Teton County, where a wildfire was burning in Bridger-Teton National Forest.
