California fire drives thousands from homes

Most of the roughly 20,000 evacuees forced out by a wildfire were cleared to go home, but firefighters still faced huge work Tuesday in taming an expansive wildfire in mountains north of Los Angeles.

The fire’s size increased modestly overnight to 58½ square miles (150.22 sq. kilometers) but containment more than doubled to 25 percent. Authorities, however, remained cautious.

“We’re not really out of the woods,” said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Justin Correll. “We’re not ready to relax. There’s still a lot of firefighting to do.”

A week of triple-digit temperatures awaited the nearly 3,000 firefighters battling flames in rugged terrain between Los Angeles and suburban Santa Clarita, where many homes are tucked into canyon lands. (AP)

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