Fire Crews Contain 1 Blaze, Get Upper Hand Over 2nd

Nearly 400 firefighters Monday evening closed their line around a fireworks-caused blaze that charred more than 1,200 acres of brush and forced the overnight evacuation of the community of Snow Creek, about 10 miles northwest of Palm Springs.

In Nevada, meanwhile, air tankers and ground crews all but won their battle to halt another fire that was ignited by lightning and prompted the evacuation of half the homes in Mountain Springs, 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

About 60 evacuees from Snow Creek and a similar number from Mountain Springs were allowed to return to their homes Monday morning.

In the Palm Springs area, the Snow Creek fire was declared contained at 8 p.m.

Fire inspectors found four bottle rockets--illegal in Riverside County--at the spot where the Snow Creek fire apparently began Sunday afternoon, the state Department of Forestry said.

No houses were reported destroyed or damaged as the flames came within a quarter of a mile of the community. There were only four minor injuries to firefighters.

In Nevada, only a few hot spots remained late Monday on the northern edge of a fire that began with a lightning strike Friday evening, and fire officials planned to begin releasing equipment and some of the 450 firefighters today.

Federal Bureau of Land Management spokesman Joe Ross said aerial mapping indicated that the blaze had burned only about 6,000 acres of brush, juniper and pinon pine, rather than the 10,000 to 12,000 acres estimated earlier.

Ross said the fire had burned “so hot and fast” Sunday afternoon that there was not much fuel left for it to feed on Monday, despite hot winds gusting up to 30 m.p.h.

With about 35% of the perimeter contained and with a forecast of decreasing winds, Ross said, “things are looking pretty good.”

Three firefighters suffered smoke inhalation and one was treated for an apparent heart attack, Ross said.

Elsewhere in the West, about 60,000 acres burned in lightning-caused fires in western and central Idaho, and 7,800 acres were blackened in more than 150 fires in Oregon.