NEW HARMONY, Utah (AP) -- Fresh teams of firefighters moved in to help crews that worked through the night to save this small town in southwestern Utah from a shifting 16,000-acre (6,400-hectare) wildfire.
Some residents of New Harmony were being allowed to return home. Others among the several hundred evacuees were allowed to check out their houses.
''I've got nothing but kudos for the fire department,'' Emily Jones said on a visit. The fire stopped within 50 feet (15 meters) of her home.
''God was looking out for us,'' she said.
Elsewhere in the state's southwestern corner, a lightning storm started two new wildfires. The town of Motoqua, a cluster of 12 homes about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of St. George, was placed under a one-hour evacuation order as flames moved to within 1 1/2 miles (2.4 kilometers) of city limits.
Emergency officials said they were working on an evacuation plan for the town's 30 residents.
At New Harmony, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of St. George, the edge of the brush and grass fire came within a mile (1.6 kilometrs) of some homes. But no buildings had been lost in the community about 280 miles ( 450 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City.
Farther south, a fire near St. George, which began almost a week ago as five smaller blazes and then grew into one, was 90 percent contained. The 68,264-acre (27,305-hectare) fire was expected to be fully contained by Tuesday night, said fire spokesman Dave Olson.
The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said Tuesday that 21 large fires had burned more than 769,000 acres (307,600 hectares) in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.
In Nevada, a 33,500-acre (13,400-hectare) wildfire that had blanketed Las Vegas with smoke and prompted the evacuation of a Boy Scout camp was nearing containment. But elsewhere in the southern part of the state, firefighters dug in as a buffer narrowed to 10 miles (16 kilometers) between a railroad town and two big fires in an uninhabited area that is home to desert tortoises.
