Officials Say Lightning Sparks More NorCal Fires
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Firefighters have been making progress against a series of wildfires burning in Northern California, but fire officials say more than 900 lightning strikes late Friday and early Saturday have started more fires throughout the region.
State fire spokesman Daniel Berlant says lightning sparked more than a dozen new fires, though most of the new fires are small.
Meanwhile, firefighters continue to battle two huge wildfires on national parklands in Northern California.
The nearly 1,200 firefighters struggling to surround the Chips fire in Plumas National Forest have the fire 34 percent contained.
The blaze, 120 miles north of Sacramento, has consumed more than 69 square miles and continues to threaten about 900 homes.
Another fire burning in Lassen Volcanic National Park is 32 percent contained after consuming more than 43 square miles, while fire crews were able to suppress four new fires in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.)
