PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) -- Most of the residents who fled a 5,000-acre wildfire stoked by triple-digit heat and erratic winds had returned to their homes, authorities said.
No homes had been destroyed and there were no injuries reported, but the blaze was only 10 percent contained Sunday, according to Ruth Wenstrom, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino National Forest. Authorities had no estimate for full containment.
The fire broke out Friday west of Palm Springs after hikers tried to start a campfire, and spread across rugged foothills and desert flats, Wenstrom said.
Sheriff's deputies on Saturday ordered voluntary evacuations of about 100 mobile homes off Highway 111. The evacuation was lifted Sunday afternoon.
About 800 personnel worked to cut lines around the blaze with the help of water-dropping air tankers and helicopters, but temperatures of more than 110 degrees and fickle gusts slowed their progress, Wenstrom said.
The fire forced closure of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway for the first time in at least 15 years, said Tim Jones, lead supervisor for the tramway. The tram transports passengers up a steep canyon of the San Jacinto Mountains to a station at about 8,500 feet elevation, where visitors have a vantage point of the Coachella Valley.
Residents in the Northern California town of Manton began returning to their homes Sunday after a blaze there injured three people and destroyed 30 structures, including two dozen homes. The fire was expected to be fully contained Monday.
Fifteen major wildfires were burning in the West on Sunday and had charred more than 114,000 acres, according to National Interagency Fire Center. So far this year, more than 7.3 million acres have burned, about a half million more than last year and well over the 10-year average of 3.9 million, according to the center.
On the Net:
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection: www.Fire.Ca.gov
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
