California wildfire

The most successful day yet in fighting a massive and ferocious wildfire in Southern California also came with news of the blaze's destruction.

The Southern California wildfire that began as a small midmorning patch of flame next to Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass had by Tuesday's end turned into a 28-square-mile monster that had burned an untold number of homes.

A deadly wildfire that continues to spread near California's scenic Big Sur was started by an illegal camp fire, a fire official said Tuesday.

A surging wildfire that broke out over the weekend in California's Central Valley damaged homes and forced hundreds of evacuations, while a 10-day-old blaze on the Central Coast kept growing and causing problems for firefighters and displaced residents.

Firefighters battling home-threatening wildfires in the West caught a break overnight as gusty winds died down but with the region bracing for sweltering heat, Saturday's respite could be brief, authorities said.

A gigantic wildfire in and around Yosemite National Park was caused by an illegal fire set by a hunter, the U.S. Forest Service said Thursday.

Firefighters battling the giant wildfire burning in the Sierra Nevada added a California National Guard Predator drone to their arsenal Wednesday to give them almost immediate views of any portion of the flames chewing through rugged forests in and around Yosemite National Park.

A raging wildfire in Yosemite National Park rained ash on the reservoir that is the chief source of San Francisco's famously pure drinking water, and utility officials Monday scrambled to send more water toward the metropolitan area before it becomes tainted.

Hundreds of firefighters were digging trenches, clearing brush and starting back blazes to keep a wildfire raging north of Yosemite National Park out of several mountain hamlets.

After burning for nearly a week on the edges of California's Yosemite National Park, a massive wildfire of nearly 200 square miles has now crossed into it, and firefighters have barely begun to contain it.