Sierra Nevada Fire 75% Contained; Heat Slows Fight
Fire crews struggled through blistering weather and tough terrain Monday to gain 75% containment on a wildfire in the central Sierra Nevada that forced the evacuation of about 300 people.
The 7,500-acre blaze, triggered Saturday by an unattended campfire, forced the hamlets of Moccasin, Big Oak Flat and Ferndale to evacuate. No homes were burned, and residents of Moccasin were allowed to go home Sunday.
That left an estimated 200 people at evacuation centers, state Department of Forestry spokeswoman Sharon Torrence said. About 2,000 residents of Groveland and Pine Mountain Lake have been put on alert that they might have to leave but have not been evacuated.
Meanwhile, lightning storms sparked another fire in Central California and elsewhere around the West.
By midday Monday, fires that started during the weekend had burned more than 35,000 acres of forest, brush and grass in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado and Utah. Idaho was hard hit with dozens of fires.
A fire in Washington threatened part of the habitat of the endangered northern spotted owl. A smoke jumper in Idaho suffered a broken hip.
The second Central California fire burned 1,770 acres in the Ventana Wilderness area of Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County, said U. S. Forest Service spokeswoman Juanita Freel.
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