Firefighters Quelling Blazes in California

Firefighters began getting the upper hand on fires that have blackened thousands of acres of brush and timber in California.

With the help of firefighters from as far away as Alaska and Alabama, the 77,490-acre Fork fire in Mendocino National Forest was 50% contained by Thursday morning.

The weather conditions--light winds, 15% humidity and 95-degree temperatures were forecast--were expected to help with battling the blaze, which began nearly two weeks ago.

Elsewhere, flames in Los Padres National Forest near San Luis Obispo had blackened 106,668 acres and burned a cabin where biologists kept an eye on 17 zoo-hatched condors. The cabin was unoccupied at the time. The fire was surrounded Thursday night and fire crews were being released, said Nena Portillo, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry.

The Kaweah fire in Sequoia National Park was 90% contained by Thursday morning. The 4,479-acre blaze started when three drivers pulled off the road and left their idling cars on top of dry grass, which ignited.

Also in the Sierra Nevada, four separate lightning-ignited fires in and near Yosemite National Park burned a combined 42,682 acres. Three of them, known jointly as the Ackerson complex, were only 15% contained by Thursday morning.

The thick smoke from a nearly 20,000-acre blaze kept airplanes from making retardant drops, said Lee Bentley, fire information officer for Stanislaus National Forest.