Crews Gain Ground On Wildfires

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Cooler weather Monday helped firefighters gain ground on hundreds of wildfires that have charred bone-dry terrain in both wine country and remote forests in Northern California.

One fire spread across nearly 6 square miles in Napa County and moved into a mostly rural area of Solano County. It threatened more than 100 buildings as it fed on grassy woodland about 40 miles southwest of Sacramento, said Roger Archey, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

It was 40 percent contained Monday morning after destroying one house, officials said. Some residents had been ordered to evacuate, said agency spokeswoman Nancy Carniglia.

Elsewhere, firefighters in southern New Mexico were trying to stop a wildfire that has consumed 43,000 acres _ or more than 67 square miles _ of grass and brush since starting in the Lincoln National Forest, a U.S. Forest Service fire information officer said.

Two other lightning-sparked wildfires also have burned nearly 30,000 acres _ or more than 46 square miles _ in New Mexico, one west of Roswell in the southeastern part of the state and the other west of Raton in the north.

Wildfires have destroyed more than 175 homes in Northern California so far this year. Blazes started popping up in the region just as California's unofficial fire season began in mid-May, following the state's driest two-month period on record.

About 25 miles south of San Jose, many residents were being let back into their homes Monday after being chased out by two fires blamed on lightning that blackened a total of about 2 square miles. Officials said one fire was 90 percent contained Monday and the other 50 percent contained.

Thunderstorms were responsible for as many as 75 fires in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, about 160 miles north of Sacramento. They ranged in size from less than an acre to more than a square mile. None immediately threatened homes, said Forest Service spokesman Michael Odle.

Mendocino County had as many as 90 fires, charring a total of 5,000 acres, fire officials said.

South of San Francisco, a fire that started Friday in Santa Cruz County, destroying homes and closing a stretch of highway, was contained after charring just less than a square mile. Roughly 2,000 people fled their homes Friday.

It was the third major blaze to hit Santa Cruz County in the past month. A 520-acre blaze destroyed 11 buildings in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and a fire near Corralitos covered more than 4,200 acres and destroyed about 100 buildings.

Just south of San Francisco, residents of the small city of Brisbane were being allowed back into their homes Monday after a grass fire scorched several hundred acres.