The Rice Ridge Fire burns in the Lolo National Forest near Woodworth Road northeast of Salmon Lake, Montana. (Rion Sanders/The Great Falls Tribune via AP)
Wildfires forced thousands to flee their homes across the US West during a sweltering, smoke-shrouded holiday weekend of record heat.
The fires on Sunday forced evacuations in Glacier National Park in Montana and many other parts of the West; compelled crews to rescue about 140 hikers who had spent the night in the woods after fire broke out along the popular Columbia River Gorge Trail in Oregon; and led firefighters to step up efforts to protect a 2,700-year-old grove of giant sequoia encroached by flames near Yosemite National Park in California.
A sudden gusty series of rainstorms allowed Los Angeles, however, to cancel evacuation orders for a wildfire that the mayor called the largest in the city’s history and sent beach umbrellas and toy shovels bouncing down Southern California beaches late Sunday.
