Jul 19, 2008 10:44 pm US/Pacific
Only 38 Fires Still Burning Across State
SACRAMENTO (AP) ―
Cooler weather has allowed fire crews to corral wildfires across California, but a handful of stubborn, hard-to-reach mountain blazes Saturday were still keeping residents from their homes.
Firefighters were working Saturday to stop a fire in the Shasta Trinity National Forest from spreading to the rural town of Junction City, where residents were ordered to evacuate a day earlier.
"Overall we're seeing the conditions stabilize," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jason Kirchner. "The only problem with that in Northern California is, it's stabilized into hot, dry conditions."
Mandatory evacuations remained in effect Saturday for areas of Junction City, where a wildfire that has charred nearly 82 square miles in the far northern part of the state was 45 percent contained.
Residents in the Trinity County town of Hyampom and near Dry Lake in Humboldt County were ordered to stay away from their homes as flames from another blaze continued to spread. That fire has burned more than 17 square miles and is 50 percent contained.
Authorities say most of California's remaining fires are on remote federal forest lands that are harder to contain because of drier, windier conditions at higher elevations.
All but 38 of the more than 2,000 fires sparked after a lighting storm on June 20 have been extinguished around the state, leaving nearly 1,413 square miles of destruction in what officials say is the largest fire event in California history.
So far this year, a total of 1,447 square miles have burned, a staggering amount of land so early in the fire season. Fires consumed roughly 1,563 square miles in all of 2007, Kirchner said.
The state has spent $129.5 million on firefighting efforts since July 1, according to figures released Friday by the state Department of Finance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has committed more than $154 million to pay for firefighting, evacuations, shelter, traffic control, equipment and supplies.
Cooler air, higher humidity and calmer winds this week have helped firefighters make overall progress in the massive fire fight, said Alisha Herring, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention.
The improved weather and the increasing control of most fires have meant some relief for the 21,255 firefighters and other personnel dispatched earlier this month. The number had shrunk to 17,000 by Saturday, Herring said.
In the hilly range flanking the Big Sur coast, a fire that has swept over 200 square miles of heavily forested land was 70 percent contained Saturday.
Most nearby residents have been allowed to return home, but some cabins are still being kept empty until fire crews finish a controlled burn designed to clear fuel from the path of the fire. The blaze has destroyed 27 homes and 34 other buildings.
A wildfire still burning in Butte County has been 85 percent contained after forcing 10,000 people from their homes and causing one death. Fifty homes and 10 outbuildings were destroyed and 86 square miles of terrain burned.
Fire crews in the Sierra Nevada are holding off flames in weeklong effort to keep a wildfire from spreading to Interstate 80 near the town of Blue Canyon. The blaze has burned 31 square miles in the Tahoe National Forest.
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