The Associated Press
HELENA, Mont. — Hot, dry and windy weather helped a wildfire near Glacier National Park in Montana grow to roughly 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) and continue to threaten an evacuated lodge.
The blaze had grown from 1,000 acres (404.7 hectares) a day earlier and was just 2 percent contained, fire information officer Dale Warriner said Sunday. The fire was running into heavy timber.
Elsewhere, a nearly month-old California wildfire that had stood still for several days flared up over the weekend, burning 1,500 new acres (607 new hectares) in Santa Barbara County and prompting an evacuation order for a dozen homes, authorities said.
Another 200 homes were told to prepare to flee at short notice, Los Padres spokeswoman Kathy Good said.
Warm and extremely dry conditions allowed the fire to burn through old, heavy trees in the Los Padres National Forest on its uncontained southeast side.
The fire had consumed some 33,500 acres (13,557 hectares), or 52 square miles (135 square kilometers), since it started July 4 and was 70 percent contained Sunday afternoon.
The fire’s renewed activity in the inaccessible, heavily vegetated wilderness area compelled authorities to push back their anticipated containment date from Aug. 3 to Sept. 7, Good said.
The 500-member crew of firefighters was expected to at least double in size, she said. Fifteen helicopters and eight air tankers were being used against the fire, which had cost at least US$37.1 million (ˆ27.18 million).
Farther south, meanwhile, crews were battling a wildfire that had burned 200 acres (81 hectares) of brush in Menifee, an unincorporated area of Riverside County about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles, fire Capt. Jennifer Ricci said.
More than 200 firefighters were working against the blaze, reported Sunday afternoon, Ricci said. The fire was 40 percent contained, she said. A voluntary evacuation request for homes scattered within a nearby canyon area was lifted by Sunday evening, Ricci said.