More than 2 dozen large wildfires burn in Western states

“This thing really blew up, and I’ve never seen anything like it in the years that I’ve been” with the Bitterroot National Forest, spokesman Tod McKay said. Both were burned by a wildfir. “We can rebuild homes”.

An estimated 500 personnel were on scene with Cal Fire, including Napa County, Winters and Dixon fire crews.

Officials say the fire expanded by about 5 square miles Tuesday in rugged terrain and was almost 30 percent contained.

Hot, dry temperatures often combined with winds have made firefighting conditions hard, destroying homes and forcing evacuations.

Crews battling a deadly wildfire burning well into its second week near California’s Big Sur coast have carved buffer lines around a quarter of its perimeter, steering flames more deeply into the forest and away from populated areas, officials said on Wednesday.

The fire has now burned 57 structures, mostly homes, and after two weeks just keeps steadily growing.

A bulldozer operator working the fire lines was killed last week in a rollover accident in steep, forested ridges.

To the north, a grass fire in a popular recreational area north of San Francisco has more than doubled in size in less than a day.

It was 25 percent contained Tuesday.

Farther north, a quickly-spreading grass fire near Lake Berryessa prompted the evacuation of an RV and tent camping site off of Highway 128 in Yolo County.

It’s the largest of several wildfires burning in the state.

The 4.5-square-mile blaze started Saturday in steep, rugged terrain.

Authorities said Tuesday that firefighters increased containment to 30 percent.

The fire had burned 5.7 square miles in Bitterroot National Forest.

Evacuation orders remain in place as crews fight the blaze in temperatures that could reach the low 90s.

Firefighters expected dry, hot winds and the possibility of erratic flames in a series of wildfires that have charred nearly 75 square miles of rangeland in northwest Nevada.

Just north of Los Angeles, a 65-square-mile wildfire in wilderness just north of Los Angeles was nearly fully contained and only active with isolated pockets of vegetation burning within a fire lines.

Fire officials have determined the Soberanes Fire that continues to rage and has already charred countless acres was caused by an illegal, abandoned campfire.

People in Utah were allowed back into their homes after a small wildfire forced evacuations early Wednesday at a neighbourhood tucked against a mountainside south of Salt Lake City. Fire officials said West Rim Drive could be intermittently closed over the next couple of days.

Flames destroyed six houses and mobile homes, two vehicles and several out-buildings at historic Hardscrabble Ranch, according to Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal officials. The wildfire burning west of Crater Lake National Park has grown to more than 400 acres as of. About 350 residents have been ordered to evacuate the area, though some evacuation orders have since been lifted.