3,000 Campers Flee S. Calif. Wildfire*

Sunday May 20, 2007 2:16 PM

GORMAN, Calif. (AP) - A fast-moving wildfire had burned more than 2,500
acres Sunday and chased thousands of people from campsites near Los
Padres National Forest, authorities said.

No injuries were reported. The fire was 50 percent surrounded by early
Sunday morning, said Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mike Brown.

More than 3,000 people were evacuated from four campsites in the area,
Brown said.

The fire was reported at about 2 p.m. Saturday near the Golden State
Freeway about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. By early Sunday it had
scorched nearly 4 square miles.

The 250 firefighters on the lines were helped by lower nighttime
temperatures.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation, authorities said.

Southern California Edison reported 18 homes were without power due to
the fire, but authorities said no homes were immediately threatened.

Elsewhere, a wildfire that had threatened homes and other structures in
two northern Arizona forests was 80 percent contained and evacuees were
being told they could return home Sunday morning.

Officials projected full containment of the 6-square-mile Promontory
fire by Tuesday.

Crews were working to reinforce a containment line surrounding the
4,000-acre fire and patrol for hot spots. Nearly 700 firefighters were
working the blaze, which started May 13 and was believed to have been
caused by a person.

Rain helped firefighters fight a blaze that burned 27 square miles of
forest in the dry southern New Jersey Pinelands. The New Jersey Forest
Fire Service had the fire 90 percent contained Saturday, said Bert
Plante, a division fire warden.

At the height of the fire, 6,000 people were evacuated and a handful of
homes were damaged or destroyed.