Firefighters Make a Stand in Bid to Save Rural Homes

Firefighters set up a wall of fire trucks Tuesday to save about 50 rural homes from a wind-awakened arson blaze that ravaged 20,000 acres of brush and grass northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Officials said a ridge and the trucks were expected to prevent damage to the homes evacuated Monday night when the wind kicked up, gusting to 50 m.p.h. About 500 people fled when the flames roared toward the homes in a Vaca Valley rural development about 25 miles northeast of San Francisco Bay. The Miller fire, named after the canyon in which it started, is one of three Northern California blazes that have injured five workers and destroyed 31 homes and more than 31,000 acres of wild land, brush and timber since the weekend.

The wind eased during the night, and fire bosses reported at dawn Tuesday that the Miller blaze was 50% contained, with full containment expected tonight. Winds were in the 15-25 m.p.h. range Tuesday.

Two hundred miles to the north, 1,300 firefighters held a forest and brush fire, called the Fern fire, at 7,800 acres. California Division of Forestry officials said the fire was 75% contained.