For days, wildfires have raged amid spiking heat across Southern California and much of the West, driving hundreds of people from their homes. Yet homes have overwhelmingly remained safe so far, after aggressive and strategic firefighting and a dose of luck. In the foothill suburbs northeast of Los Angeles, a major wildfire gave a major scare to homeowners when it broke out within feet of residential streets. But a day later, firefighters had stopped its progress with bombardment from helicopters and crews hiking into the hills to douse it and cut fire lines. "They are working so hard, it's excruciating with the heat, and up and down these hills, they're steep," LA County fire Capt. Mike McCormick said. Homeowner Gordon Witby said Tuesday he couldn't believe how close the flames had been to his house in Duarte a day earlier, and how calm the scene was now. "The flames were so high. And so fierce," Witby told KABC-TV. The blaze, along with a neighboring one that broke out shortly before, were 10 percent contained on Tuesday night after burning about 71⁄2 square miles, US Forest Service spokesman Nathan Judy said. Still, no one was being allowed back yet to the 770 homes in Duarte that were under evacuation orders. "We're looking at another night at least," Judy said. "We understand the stress it puts on families if you displace them from their homes, and we want to get them back as soon as we can." Near the US-Mexico border southeast of San Diego, a two-day-old, 9-square-mile wildfire has forced the evacuation of about 600 homes and more than 1,500 people in Lake Morena Village. It was also 10 percent contained. Elsewhere, crews made progress against a week-old blaze that has charred more than 12 square miles in rugged coastal mountains west of Santa Barbara, boosting containment to 82 percent. — AP
