Crews have slowed the progress of the Sierra fire, but evacuation orders remain

Firefighters battling a California wildfire that has burned more than 5 square miles in the high Sierra made significant progress slowing its growth Wednesday, but hundreds of residents whose homes are threatened remained under evacuation orders.

Fighting a wildfire also got a boost in South Dakota thanks to cooler weather and lighter winds. Residents of the state’s second-largest city were ready to flee if flames from a nearby wildfire got dangerously close.

Estimated containment of the Northern California wildfire burning about 50 miles north of Lake Tahoe remained at 0 percent. But fire officials said it had grown by only a few hundred acres Wednesday as more than 400 firefighters successfully attacked the blaze directly on the ground and with retardant drops from the air.

Greg Lowdermilk, a divisional operations chief for the interagency team, said they are continuing to build new fire lines by hand and with bulldozers and have begun putting in additional hoses “so we can continue to increase containment.”

The Sierra County Sheriff’s Office said evacuation orders for more than 500 residents of the Sierra Brooks mountain community, about 25 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada, will remain in effect “until a safe level of containment is achieved “.

In South Dakota, officials were optimistic that homes in Rapid City would be spared from the first fire.

The fire was reported Monday just a few miles from Rapid City, a community of 80,000 near the Black Hills National Forest. Mount Rushmore National Memorial, about 25 miles away, is out of harm’s way.

The fire, which was burning nearly 160 acres, was fueled by unseasonably warm and dry weather. Tuesday’s high in Rapid City was 96 degrees Fahrenheit, well above the normal early September high of 75. Winds gusted to 45 mph.

As of Tuesday evening, residents of an evacuation warning zone in Rapid City were being told to pack their bags, gather vital possessions and be prepared to leave immediately. By Wednesday morning, the temperature was much cooler, the winds calmer and the air more humid.

“Firefighters did well on last night’s fire,” said an update from the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. “It is currently 157 acres in size. Weather conditions are very favorable today. They’re cleaning up a lot of the west side and hope to get everything under control today.”

Officials do not yet know what caused the fire, which burned on steep, rocky terrain. No structural damage was reported.

Meanwhile, in central California, firefighters working in triple-digit temperatures were battling a blaze that burned more than 17 square miles (44 square kilometers) of dry brush, mostly open space. A handful of homes were evacuated outside Coalinga in Fresno County. The Boone Fire was 5 percent contained Wednesday.

Red flag warnings for increased fire risk have been issued across the state. The desert communities of Palm Springs, Twentynine Palms, Needles and Barstow were heating up, with highs of up to 118F in Furnace Creek in Death Valley expected later in the week.

In Santa Barbara County in Southern California, officials have issued a health alert due to rising temperatures in inland areas. The health department urged residents to stay indoors during the day and take other precautions to avoid heat illness. Cooling centers have been set up in Los Angeles County.

Associated Press writer Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada contributed to this report.

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