Officials raise count of burned homes

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK -- The fire burning outside Yosemite National Park destroyed 28 homes -- seven more than previously thought, state fire officials reported Tuesday as weather forecasts produced new wildfire worries.

Officials said they revised the number after crews were able to go in and more accurately survey the damage. The blaze remained 95 percent contained by Tuesday evening, and no additional structures were at risk.

The fire, which has consumed about 34,000 acres west of Yosemite and cost nearly $37 million to fight, was started July 25 by a person taking target shooting practice, according to state fire officials who are investigating whether the individual should be prosecuted.

Meanwhile, a storm front forecast to move into California left fire officials worried that stronger winds and more lightning would spark new blazes and make fighting the remaining ones around the state harder.

By Tuesday night, lightning had started a few fires in the Inyo National Forest, including one that burned about 100 acres near Bishop but threatened no structures.

"This storm could bring in erratic winds, and those conditions are the kind that can kill firefighters because in that wind the fires become explosive," said Janet Upton, a Cal Fire spokeswoman.

In case of high winds or lightning strikes, all firefighting crews were being kept on duty. Extra fire engines and bulldozers have been put on 24-hour call and additional inmate firefighting crews have been activated, Upton said.

Fire officials are particularly concerned about Northern California, where lightning strikes and little rain were predicted for Tuesday night and this morning.

A dry lightning storm in June set off more than 2,000 wildfires in the state.

A wildfire that threatened a number of homes in rural Butte County was only 30 percent contained, and crews pushed back their estimate of when they would have it surrounded until Wednesday. The 1,000-acre blaze led to the evacuation of residents living between the middle and southern forks of the Feather River, which feeds into Lake Oroville.

That fire, which began Sunday, already has destroyed a mobile home and damaged a barn.

To the south in the Inyo National Forest, firefighters were still trying to contain a 347-acre fire near Mammoth Lakes. The nearest structures are at a campground about 2.5 miles away from the flames, but no evacuations were ordered.

Smoke diminished throughout the day as crews established containment lines around the blaze, said fire spokesman Matt Corelli. The fire was 40 percent contained Tuesday evening.

Corelli said the cause of the fire was human-caused and was under investigation by the U.S. Forest Service.

New resources were arriving in the region to help out, including 295 firefighters, five air tankers and six helicopters, fire officials said. One firefighter suffered a laceration to the face while he was cutting brush.

The Bishop fire was about 40 miles southeast of Mammoth Lakes.

Carrie McDivitt, a dispatcher at Inyo National Forest, said firefighters stopped the spread of the blaze by dusk.

AP-WS-08-05-08 2316EDT