Firemen battled a massive wildfire near California’s Big Sur that is threatening 5,000 homes and has burned for ten straight days.
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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.
Crews overnight got a bit more control over a stubborn wildfire in California’s Central Valley.
Fire commander Glen Uhlig says about 415 firefighters are working in hot, dry conditions to prevent the fire from crossing State Route 447, near Squaw Creek Reservoir.
The more than 5,450 fire personnel battling the blaze have been able to draw containment lines – a measure of how much of its perimeter has been cleared by fire crews of unburned vegetation – around only 18 percent of the wildfire so far.
The blaze near Prather damaged an undetermined number of 400 evacuated homes just outside the Sierra National Forest, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
The fire started Saturday and has grown to 2,000 acres.
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The fire zone totaled about 78 square miles Monday, said fire spokeswoman Jesse Bender.
In eastern Nevada, officials are reporting 80 percent containment of a 1.3-square-mile wildfire on public rangeland about 95 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation has five other yurts it manages as part of an agreement with the Boise National Forest, and several remain threatened.
The 4.5-square-mile blaze started Saturday in steep, rugged terrain. About 350 residents have been ordered to evacuate the area, some evacuation orders have since been lifted.
The Soberanos blaze north of Big Sur expanded to 59 square miles Sunday night, Cal Fire officials said. About 250 residences are at risk, officials also said Monday night and the fire is 10 percent contained.
The Soberanes Fire continued to grow Tuesday, and firefighters estimated it would be weeks before the flames would be suppressed.
About 20 structures remained threatened by the fire east of the town of Pendleton, the Oregon Department of Forestry said.
Evacuated residents were allowed to return to their homes northwest of Dubois as progress was made against a wildfire. This photo provided by Inciweb.gov, shows smoke from Bybee Creek Wildfire drifting over Crater Lake, Ore., July 30, 2016.
Fire information officer Mike Cole said the blaze in the Bitterroot National Forest had burned almost 7 square miles by early Tuesday.
In Bridger-Teton National Forest, a fire that has burned about 46 square miles was 84 percent contained.
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In southwest Wyoming, a fire that has burned about 2 square miles near the Utah border is now 36 percent contained. A man who refused to evacuate from a home was killed and the fire also prompted the evacuation of about 20,000 people.
