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Blazes Scorch 120,000 Acres Across State

From Times staff and wire reports

Fires swept through forests across California on Sunday, blackening more than 120,000 acres from Yosemite National Park to San Luis Obispo County.

In Los Padres National Forest east of San Luis Obispo, 1,790 firefighters battled a 67,000-acre blaze ignited by a car fire Thursday. The fire, which was moving into the Machesna Mountain Wilderness, is expected to double in acreage before it is extinguished, said Shauna Tarbet, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service. Two vacation homes and one mobile home had been destroyed and total damage could rise to $5 million, she added.

Blazes in Northern California scorched 46,500 acres north of Clear Lake and 22,500 in the vicinity of Yosemite.

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Some two dozen Yosemite park employees living in the Hetch Hetchy area were forced to evacuate over the weekend and campfires in Yosemite Valley have been banned.

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