Weather holds sway in wildfire battles out West
Evacuees await nod to return
Crews also were standing by to protect roughly 460 homes and businesses in nearby Oak Creek Canyon, which was evacuated when the fire began Sunday as a transient's campfire.
No buildings had burned. ``It's looking pretty good in that area right now," said David Eaker, a spokesman for the team fighting the fire.
Nora Walker-Yeager, who was allowed to return to her home briefly yesterday, grabbed her wedding book, her husband's wedding ring, her engagement ring, dog toys, clothes, and medications.
Eaker said yesterday's diminishing winds worked in favor of the 700 firefighters battling the blaze. But temperatures forecast at around 100 with single-digit humidity would work against them.
In southern Colorado, firefighters were helped by cooler temperatures and higher humidity as they worked to expand containment lines around an 11,800-acre wildfire. Residents of 300 houses were still awaiting word on when they could return. No houses had been lost.
The fire, burning in drought-stressed grasslands and forests about 150 miles south of Denver, was 30 percent contained.
Firefighters in New Mexico, facing fires that have scorched more than 70,000 acres, were dealing with more hot weather yesterday, plus forecasts for lightning and erratic winds.
``We have to take one day at a time," fire information officer Brian Morris said. ``We can plan for the future, but we still have to deal with today."
The largest blaze -- on 33,250-acres in New Mexico -- threatened cabins and other structures in the Willow Creek area.
