Crews battle California fires; body found
616265
Nearly 4,000 firefighters worked in blistering temperatures Saturday to corral a huge complex of fires in rugged wilderness as authorities found a body in a blackened part of the desert.
176961
Cooler temperatures and higher humidity helped firefighters Monday as they got closer to fully containing one of the largest wildfires in California history.
298170
By GILLIAN FLACCUS  OJAI, Calif. - Helicopters lifted off as winds calmed Sunday, ferrying water and transporting firefighters to battle a three-week-old wildfire that has scorched more than 200 square miles of the Los Padres National Forest.
351837
A firefighter died Sunday and six others were injured while working to contain a comparatively small, but tricky wildfire in Stanislaus National Forest, authorities said.
255825
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.
218303
Workers demolishing damaged houses found a body thought to be that of a Hurricane Katrina victim, authorities said.
475037
RAMONA, California  - Sifting through the ash-covered rubble where her family's home stood one week ago, Nicole Booth combs the scorched remains of a life left behind in the wildfires that blanketed this Southern California town.
647388
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.
740279
Authorities identified a man whose dismembered body was found scattered around San Diego this week as a 57-year-old transient, and they were searching for an acquaintance in his killing.
89397
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.
636381
Rescuers on Friday found the dead bodies  of nine miners trapped underground by a fire at a gold mine in  Eastern Siberia and continued to search for more than 20  others, officials said.
41078
SILVERADO CANYON, California  - Cool weather and calm skies helped thousands of firefighters beat back Southern California wildfires on Saturday, although flare-ups in some places meant the battle was not yet over.
206992
Nearly a dozen wildfires driven by powerful Santa Ana winds spread across Southern California on Sunday, killing one person near San Diego and destroying several homes and a church in celebrity-laden Malibu.
458638
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.
135763
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.
722224
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.
66162
Scorching heat pushed California's electricity supply to the brink Monday as authorities investigated at least 29 possible heat-related deaths, most in the Central Valley, where temperatures reached 115 degrees over the weekend.