KELSO, Calif. (AP) -- Firefighters were close to containing a massive fire in the Mojave National Preserve that blackened some 67,000 acres and destroyed five homes and two cabins built in the late 1800s.
Milder than expected winds from a cold front and steep terrain helped slow down the fire, which was 65 percent contained by late Sunday. Full containment is expected by 6 p.m. Monday.
''The weather today helped out a lot,'' said Capt. Greg Cleveland, a spokesman with the Southern California Incident Management Team. ''It was still hot but the winds were mild. And the humidity was still low but it wasn't down in the single digits.''
The fire formed after lightning sparked five separate blazes Wednesday afternoon near the Nevada state line. Those smaller blazes eventually merged and were burning at the edges of critical territory for the threatened desert tortoise. A federal biologist examined the burned area Saturday to determine how the fire affected the animals, but did not find any live or dead tortoises, officials said.
More than 900 firefighters battled the blaze in a rocky terrain area marked by grass, sagebrush, juniper and pinyon pine stands _ flora made unusually dense by heavy winter rains.
The fire scorched sections of the preserve containing historic mines and sites of ancient Indian pictographs, but the extent of the damage was unknown. Six trailers or other structures also were destroyed.
Evacuations were still in effect Sunday in the Round Valley and Fourth of July Canyon areas, where about a dozen people had homes.
