Hot, Dry Weather This Week Could Increase Chances Of Lighting-Sparked Wildfires

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Officials say none of the 16 wildfires burning around California is posing serious danger of destruction or fast spread — but that could change this week.

A heating trend with decreased humidity is set to begin and will likely peak on Thursday and Friday. With it could come thunderstorms and lightning to inland areas where some of the main fires were burning, the National Weather Service said.

On Monday, progress was obvious around the state.

In Southern California, evacuation orders were lifted for hundreds of mountain homes threatened by a fire near Big Bear Lake and Snow Summit ski resort.

The orders had been in place for about 500 homes, many of them cabins and vacation houses

Several planes and helicopters were able to make easy water pickups at the lake, allowing near-continuous drops over the flames about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. The 100-acre blaze was 50 percent contained.

Richard Rhode used a hose to spray down a cabin owned by his daughter, who was out of town. He praised the firefighters' fast response.

"They put a line up, and they stopped it maybe a 100, 150 yards from us," he told KABC-TV.

In Central California, timber and brush left parched by the state's extended drought again spread a fire that has been burning for nearly a month. It grew to more than 80 square miles Monday.

Firefighters were slowly making progress on the stubborn blaze that destroyed a lodge near Kings Canyon National Park in Fresno County. The fire was 17 percent contained, the U.S. Forest Service said. No injuries have been reported.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

In:
• Fire