LEBEC, Calif. (AP) -- A wildfire raged across dry, grass-covered hills just outside a state park, forcing several hundred people to evacuate their homes, authorities said.
The fire, about 40 miles southeast of Bakersfield, began Sunday afternoon when a vehicle caught fire on the side of the Golden State Freeway, near Fort Tejon State Historic Park, officials said. It was the second wildfire in Kern County during the weekend.
The flames blackened about 500 acres and threatened some 200 houses lining two canyons along the west side of the freeway. Officials evacuated several hundred people, said county fire Capt. Tony Plant. No injuries were reported.
In the Northwest, authorities in Oregon evacuated three campgrounds and a group of cabins as a windblown fire near 12 miles east of La Pine burned more than 3,000 acres by late Sunday. The fire was 20 percent contained.
Utah authorities recommended evacuation for about 100 people and closed a stretch of highway between Gunlock, Utah, and Mesquite, Nev., because of a fire about 10 miles west of St. George. The blaze spread quickly through 6,000 acres of grass, pinion and juniper trees and light brush in the Beaver Dam Mountains. Firefighters were hampered by high temperatures, erratic wind and steep terrain.
At Lebec, innkeeper Debbie Peters said conditions were ripe for a blaze. ``All it takes is the proper setting, and (Sunday) was very windy,'' she said.
``Lebec consists of a post office, an antique store and a mini-mart,'' said Peters. ``There is really not much you can do when a wildfire is coming.''
The Red Cross set up an evacuation shelter at a school. By nightfall, some 40 residents had settled in, while others stayed in their cars with their pets.
About 350 local, state and federal firefighters were assigned to the fire.
``We have crews of firefighters in among the homes, and we have other crews using backfires,'' Kern County fire Capt. Doug Johnston said.
Earlier in the weekend, a separate wildfire destroyed nine structures and over 500 acres of brush in a rugged high-desert recreation area of Kern County. It was contained early Sunday, authorities said.
Elsewhere, the 37,500-acre fire atop southern Arizona's Mount Lemmon was 65 percent contained by late Sunday, said fire information officer Art Morrison. The human-caused fire began June 17 on the peak northeast of Tucson and destroyed 317 homes or cabins and seven businesses in the summer vacation community of Summerhaven.
