A 25,000-acre wildfire in central California, one of three dozen major blazes burning across the U.S. West, threatened hundreds of homes and businesses on Wednesday after forcing the evacuation of about 5,000 residents. There were 46 active large fires spread across 12 states, with 11 new blazes reported on Tuesday alone, according to National Interagency Fire Center website. Around 4.4 million acres have been burnt since the start of 2017, compared to 2.7 million acres in
the same period last year, it said. Dry and windy conditions have fueled the wildfire season and thousands of people have been evacuated, including in Oregon and Nevada. Firefighters managed to contain 5 percent of the Detwiler Fire, which threatened 1,500 structures in tiny foothill communities in the Sierra Nevada mountains, authorities said. Around 2,000 residents were ordered to flee Mariposa, California on Tuesday. READ MORE
