Winds wane as 18 wildfires burn in California
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Dying winds gave California firefighters their first big break on Wednesday after four days battling wildfires, but San Diego faced more calamity as blazes there burned out of control and kept more than half a million evacuees from returning home.
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A dozen wildfires stoked by gusting winds burned out of control in southern California on Sunday, killing one person in San Diego and forcing thousands to evacuate homes from the celebrity enclave of Malibu down to the Mexican border.
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Southern California firefighters take advantage of lower winds to contain the remaining major wildfires.
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Cool, damp weather moved into Southern California from the Pacific Ocean on Friday boosting efforts to beat down stubborn wildfires, while weary families returned to find many homes unscathed but hundreds of others burned to rubble.
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Lighter winds and higher humidity have enabled firefighters in California to go on the attack more, but the fires remain worrisome.
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CASTAIC, Calif. - Firefighters face more hot, dry weather Sunday as they struggle to contain a wildfire burning across nearly 20-square miles of dry brush and timber in the Los Padres National Forest.  The blaze broke out Monday about 40 miles north of Los Angeles.
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Firefighters in Northern California got a break Saturday when winds that had whipped 45 wildfires died down.  One of the largest fires, which charred 400 acres west of Yountville Friday, was 60 percent contained Saturday morning, the Napa Valley Register reported.
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Firefighters were hampered by erratic wind and low humidity as they made slow progress against a fire that had burned nearly 12,000 acres and four houses in the Northern California wine country.
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Relentless wildfires forcing the largest evacuations in California's modern history raged into a fourth day on Wednesday as 10,000 exhausted firefighters hoped for a break in the hot winds whipping the flames.
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LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. - Firefighters, worried about the possible return of hot, dry Santa Ana winds, fought three separate wildfires Wednesday that crept through national forests and toward towns.  No houses were immediately threatened, however.
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By Gillian Flaccus THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  OJAI -- Firefighters, aided by calmer winds and aircraft dropping water and fire-smothering chemicals, gained ground Sunday against a wildfire that has burned more than 200 square miles in the Los Padres National Forest.
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More than a dozen wildfires continued to rage in southern California, driven by shifting, gusting winds that make them all but impossible to stop.
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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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Fire crews were hoping for a Monday morning lull in the winds that have been fanning a 2,000-acre wildfire across northeastern California, where it has scorched more than 220 homes and other buildings, authorities said.
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By Christina Almeida THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  OJAI -- Gusty winds stoked three wildfires scorching Southern California on Sunday, forcing authorities to shut down highways and evacuate thousands from canyon and desert communities.
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A wind-driven wildfire on Saturday   threatened some of California's premier vineyards and the   winemaking city of Napa, one of several blazes kindled across   the state by dry conditions and seasonal Santa Ana winds.
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LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. - Two wildfires erupted Tuesday in the forests of Southern California as a moist ocean breeze helped slow a huge blaze that has burned for more than two weeks near the coast.