KING CITY, Calif. (AP) -- Firefighters were close to encircling a nearly 800-acre blaze in the Los Padres National Forest on Saturday.
The blaze was in chaparral-covered terrain in a wilderness area southeast of Monterey. It was 90 percent contained Saturday morning, forest officials said.
Nearly 900 firefighters were battling the fire, which began Wednesday and forced the closure of the Arroyo Seco campground. Its cause remains under investigation.
Another fire was burning out of control Saturday after a vehicle fire spread across 40 acres of brush within two hours near Lake Forest. About 150 firefighters converged on the area and four suffered heat-related injuries, including exhaustion, said Tasha Schilling, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fire Authority.
The out-of-control fire was moving slowly east and a number of nearby homes were threatened, but no evacuations were ordered, Schilling said.
In the past week, authorities said about 80 percent of Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles would be closed, starting Monday, because of the threat of fire during a prolonged drought.
The restrictions, which are likely to remain in effect until cooler weather returns, are designed to avoid a repeat of the wildfires that struck last fall from Los Angeles to San Diego, burning 750,000 acres and killing 24 people.
