Meteor reports briefly ground aerial assault on Colorado wildfire

Conditions were also better in central Colorado near Lake George, where the blaze is more than 20 percent contained, despite the meteor warning.

A fire that broke out Tuesday in northwestern Colorado spread to about 3 square miles, or 2,000 acres, forcing some evacuations in a subdivision, but residents were able to return that night. Moffat County Sheriff Tim Jantz said the fire is believed to have started from a cigarette thrown from a vehicle.

The largest Colorado blaze west of Fort Collins was 55 percent contained and has destroyed at least 189 homes since it was sparked by lightning June 9. Hahnenberg said it could be weeks or even months before it's finally controlled.

In Arizona, dense smoke from a wildfire near Payson prompted a health watch in the Phoenix area. Residents were asked to avoid using gas-powered lawn mowers and to limit driving or carpool.

Meanwhile, a 385-acre fire near Sequoia National Park in California was 70 percent contained, Kern County fire officials said Wednesday.

Two hundred firefighters are battling the blaze on the northwest side of Lake Isabella and 200 more are on their way, said Forest Service spokeswoman Cindy Thill.

About 160 structures, including homes and cabins near the park, were evacuated, but area residents were allowed back in their homes at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

No structures have burned and no injuries have been reported, Thill said.

Residents in San Diego County, meanwhile, have been allowed to home near a 995-acre fire. Full containment was expected Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

Elsewhere:

In Wyoming, nearly 300 firefighters are battling a wildfire burning in remote and mountainous area of the Medicine Bow National Forest that has burned about 4 square miles since Sunday. An 800-acre wildfire that began Tuesday in Wyoming and crossed over into Colorado is 90 percent contained.

In New Mexico, a fire that has destroyed 242 homes and businesses in southern New Mexico was 60 percent contained. A fire in the Gila Wilderness, the largest in state history, is at 463 square miles and is 80 percent contained.

In Arizona, the wildfire causing haze in Phoenix made a rapid run to the east, spreading under twin transmission lines that send power to the state's major metropolitan areas. Firefighters were reinforcing containment lines to the north Wednesday to keep the blaze from reaching two small communities about three miles away. It's 8,100 acres, up from 3,700 on Tuesday.

In Nevada, an 18-square-mile wildfire north of Ely was 37 percent contained.

In Hawaii, the largest wildfire of the season has scorched at least 5,200 acres on the Big Island. Two separate fires have been burning there since Monday. One came dangerously close to a hospital and forced the closure of its emergency room. A 6-acre fire in Maui that damaged three homes was contained late Tuesday.

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[SusanStoHelit]

This is silly! Really ridiculous. Even if there are one or two, the odds of a meteorite hitting an airplane is literally billions to one - there's so much airspace the airplane is not in, for it to hit - virtually an impossibility. On the other hand, for the fire to get worse, and kill a firefighter or civilian - now that is likely.

[rwsmith29456]

I know they are beings safe, but stopping because a meteor or two (the story doesn't indicate more than that) fall is pretty paranoid.