Crews gain ground on wildfires in Montana, California
Jul 26, 2015, 1:12 PM
Evacuation levels in Montana’s Glacier National Park are being downgraded as the weather improves and more firefighters arrive to battle the blaze.
Some 570 firefighters are now on hand to battle the blaze, now estimated at about 5 square miles. The fire is now 20 percent contained.
There were about 450 firefighters on Saturday night, including four Hotshot crews, seven helicopters and 21 fire engines.
Glacier National Park is still encouraging people to come and visit, even with the closure of 21 miles of Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Evacuation orders have been lifted for National Park Service employee housing and administrative areas.
Wildfires are also burning in drought-stricken California:
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SIERRA NEVADA
Fire authorities say a wildfire at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada has burned a little over 2 square miles of drought-stricken timber and not 6 square miles as it was reported.
Cal Fire said Sunday that it downgraded the size of the fire after doing better mapping of the burned area.
The blaze erupted at around 2:30 p.m. Saturday and forced evacuations of some communities in and near Nevada County, about 45 miles northeast of Sacramento.
Hundreds of firefighters aided by air tankers fought the blaze, which is 5 percent contained.
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CALIFORNIA’S NAPA VALLEY
Firefighters gained ground against a wildfire near Napa Valley wine country, and on Sunday that fire was 60 percent contained. Fire officials ended all evacuation orders and road closures.
The Napa-area blaze has burned more than 10 1/2 square miles of drought-parched countryside near Lake Berryessa, about 45 miles east of wine country.
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SAN DIEGO COUNTY
A small wildfire that chewed through dry timber in the Cleveland National Forest was 20 percent contained Sunday. The 167-acre blaze, which broke out Friday, was not threatening structures, but it briefly forced the closure of the Palomar Observatory on Saturday. The cause is under investigation.
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