Weeks-Old Blaze Tests Fire Crews' Endurance in Calif.
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By William M. Welch  LOS ANGELES -- Extremely dry brush and fickle winds have kept alive for more than three weeks a wildfire that is only 40% contained and has scorched 200 square miles of mountainous terrain northwest of Los Angeles.
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With ash drifting down and the Tahoe Basin bathed in milky smoke, firefighters were grateful late Monday that the biggest disaster in the region's history wasn't even more disastrous.  If the treacherous Sierra winds kick up again, however, all bets are off.
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California firefighters aided by cooler weather Wednesday reported steady progress on a fire that has burned for nearly four days through the Cleveland National Forest east of San Diego.
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By GILLIAN FLACCUS RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A blaze that killed five federal firefighters last year has emboldened those who question the cost of saving the ever expanding number of homes on the fringe of wilderness.
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SANTA YSABEL, California  - As California struggles to extinguish some of the state's most devastating forest fires, it has turned to a record number of prisoners for some of the most demanding work.
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Firefighters gained the upper hand on nearly all of the California wildfires on Thursday as winds died down after five days battling 20 fires from the mountains north of Los Angeles down to the Mexican border.
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By Gillian Flaccus Associated Press  RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- A blaze that killed five federal firefighters last year has emboldened those who question the cost of saving the ever expanding number of homes on the fringe of wilderness.
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More than 1,000 firefighters are brought in to tackle a large blaze threatening hundreds of homes near Los Angeles.
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They've stolen cars, used drugs and forged checks. When California is burning, they fight fires.
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Cooler weather helped firefighters make progress on three wildfires that have burned more than 95,000 acres of Southern California forests, including two new blazes and one that has lingered for more than two weeks.
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By GILLIAN FLACCUS  OJAI, Calif. - Hot, dry Santa Ana winds gusting to more than 50 mph Saturday stoked the flames of a three-week-old wildfire in Los Padres National Forest and ignited at least two new fires.
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Firefighters battling 15 fires across Southern California got a break from slowing winds on Wednesday, but major blazes burned unchecked for a fourth day after forcing the largest evacuation in California's modern history.
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A weekend of good weather means the fires are finally on the wane -- and the time to ask how California coped is here
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Two new studies say record wildfire seasons like this year's may become the norm in the western United States as global temperatures continue to climb.
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Firefighters tightened their grip on a massive forest fire in northern California on Friday, with calm weather assisting efforts to contain the blaze, US Forest Service officials said.
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Firefighters won the upper hand against most of California's wildfires on Thursday, though several still burned out of control as President George W. Bush surveyed what he called "terrible devastation" from the five-day disaster.
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GEYSERVILLE, Calif., Sept. 6 -- Firefighters were hampered by erratic wind and low humidity Monday as they made slow progress against a fire that had burned nearly 12,000 acres and four houses in the Northern California wine country.