BIG SUR, Calif. — Firefighters pushed back a blaze threatening this small coastal community just enough to allow hundreds of people to check on their homes Tuesday as a separate fire 300 miles north forced residents of other towns to evacuate.
Winds as high as 30 mph fanned a blaze northeast of Sacramento in Butte County, where firefighters went door to door overnight to evacuate 800 to 1,000 residents from the towns of Concow and Yankee Hill. Nearby Paradise, where a fire destroyed 74 homes last month, and Ono were also ordered evacuated.
Five structures have been destroyed, and the complex of fires in Butte County was about 55 percent contained.
At least 23 homes and 25 other structures have been destroyed to the south in the Big Sur area, where flames have marched over more than 125 square miles of forest land since June 21. Although that fire is far from controlled — containment is at 18 percent into the fire’s third week — authorities lifted the mandatory evacuation order issued for 25 miles of the 31-mile stretch along the Pacific Coast Highway that had been closed.
