California Wildfire Continues to Grow

More firefighters are headed to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks in northwest Wyoming.

Travelers coming from the south can still access Yellowstone through Idaho and the park’s West Entrance.

Almost 1,900 structures were threatened by a almost 50-square-mile blaze in coastal San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties, where more than 2,400 people were under evacuation orders, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

The road was expected to remain closed Tuesday as firefighters cleared debris and burned trees that might pose a hazard, he said.

The main fire has burned about 10 square miles since it was started by lightning last month.

In neighboring Yellowstone, a fire grew near West Entrance Road.

In Yellowstone, four fires are burning but all major visitor areas and roads remain open.

The fire has burned about 42 square miles since it was ignited by lightning on August 8.

Authorities say more than 1,800 homes are threatened by a destructive wildfire that continues to grow on California’s central coast.

The Hearst Castle in central California remains closed Sunday as a result of a wildfire burning in San Luis Obispo County.

That inferno has already consumed 53 structures and 37,101 acres in Central California near the Hearst Castle, built by publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, now a tourist attraction.

Firefighters have reached full containment of a blaze east of Los Angeles that forced tens of thousands to evacuate their homes.

The state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection syas the blaze in San Bernardino County mountain areas is 100 percent contained Tuesday after charring almost 57 square miles of drought-dry brush. Investigators were seeking the cause of the blaze that broke out a week ago.

A fast-moving rangeland wildfire in eastern Idaho expanded to almost 70 square miles Wednesday, forcing evacuations, threatening a windfarm and burning habitat needed by sage grouse, a federally protected bird. Hundreds of homes remain threatened by the fire in rugged wilderness coast along Highway 1.

In Washington State, a cluster of wildfires ringed the city of Spokane, destroying more than a dozen homes and forcing hundreds to flee.

Evacuation orders for homes near Upper Grant Creek were lifted Tuesday afternoon but authorities asked non-residents to stay out of the area about 4 miles north of Interstate 90 to keep the roadways clear.

A house trailer burned before the fire was contained but the person living there escaped, KECI-TV reported.

Low humidity and gusting winds caused the rapid spread Monday of another fire in northwestern Montana near Lakeside.

About 75 homes and other structures are within a half-mile of the fire’s perimeter. Mandatory evacuations ended on that fire on Tuesday night.

In the Santa Ynez Mountains above Santa Barbara, a wildfire expanded to almost 37 square miles as it chewed through critically dry brush, grass and oak canopies.

The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office says evacuations are in place, with up to 70 buildings along U.S. Highway 26 threatened.

Those blazes all erupted on Sunday, stoked by extremely hot, dry weather and gusty winds.

The fire jumped the Spokane River and threatened the small community of Wellpinit on the Spokane Indian Reservation.

Elsewhere, a 48 1/2-square-mile blaze on national forest lands west of Unity was 40 percent surrounded.

One team includes 21 firefighters from the Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Culver City fire departments.

Firefighters in northern Utah are working to contain a growing wildfire near a ski resort that’s now crossed the border into southern Idaho.

Cal Fire says the fire has destroyed 57 homes and charred 133 square miles.

Cal Fire said Wednesday that the 10-day-old blaze has charred almost 64 square miles of dry brush and timber.

Spokesman Brian Steiger says the fire is 35 percent contained after destroying 36 homes and 16 other buildings.