HIGHLAND, Calif. (AP) _ Aided by relatively mild weather, hundreds of firefighters made slow but steady progress Sunday against a wildfire crackling through brush and timber that hadn't burned in nearly 50 years.
The fire, burning in the San Bernardino National Forest about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, was 15 percent contained Sunday after scorching approximately 1,352 acres, said Marc Stamer, a fire information officer with the U.S. Forest Service.
Temperatures in the 90s Saturday fell to the high 50s before dawn Sunday while humidity rose to above 50 percent, Stamer said. He added that firefighters were racing to try to get as much of a perimeter line around the fire as they could before hot, dry weather returned.
At one point, the blaze had threatened as many as 1,500 homes, prompting the evacuation of the 400 closest to the flames. Many of the residents forced to leave likely wouldn't be allowed to return before Monday, Stamer said.
``We're mentally prepared for at least two days,'' said one evacuee, Woody Andrews of Running Springs. The 50-year-old contractor was staying at the Lake Arrowhead Hilton Resort, which had made rooms available to evacuees for $19 a night.
``They have a pool and cable. It's nice,'' Andrews said.
Dozens of other evacuees stayed at a nearby high school.
In all, about 1,000 people were displaced, Stamer said.
The fire started Friday afternoon about four miles from Highland, in an area with thousands of dead trees that were ravaged by an infestation of Western pine bark beetles, said Karen Terrill, fire information officer for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
``The last time this area burned was 1956, so this is a lot of very dead, very dry material that's burning now, in addition to the bug kill area,'' she said.
Rebecca Smith, a teacher from Running Springs who was forced to evacuate, said more should have been done to clear the dead trees and dry brush.
``So many people here can't afford to take down dead trees,'' said Smith, 53. ``It was a disaster waiting to happen. So many trees have to come down to keep us safe. It's very frustrating.''
In Oregon, the town of Camp Sherman remained evacuated as two blazes that had merged into an 88,000-acre complex burned nearby. Firefighters dug new fire breaks Saturday and were counting on rain forecast for the area Sunday.
In Washington state, residents of about 200 homes in the Methow Valley were on alert to evacuate at any moment as a 7,000-acre wildfire burned about three miles away in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests.
Firefighters in Montana faced strong wind and low humidity as they battled some 80 wildfires, most in the northwestern part of the state. ``Every single element that we look at is coming together to indicate an extreme day'' on Sunday, said Tim Stubbs, fire behavior analyst for the Northern Rockies Command Center.
Montana's largest fire had burned more than 52,500 acres as it moved north into Glacier National Park. Few structures were threatened, but the fire was dangerously close to Going-to-the-Sun Road and had the potential to hook back around the east side of Lake McDonald, officials said.
