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Weather slows California wildfires; thousands allowed home

Monterey Fire
Posted at 10:40 AM, Aug 29, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-29 13:40:49-04

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California wildfires are slowly being corralled as cooler, humid weather and reinforcements help firefighters.

Two of the largest fires in state history were both more than a third surrounded Friday.

Around 50,000 people have been allowed back home in the past two days as evacuation orders were lifted for counties in the San Francisco Bay Area and wine country.

Hundreds of California fires in recent weeks have killed at least seven people and burned more than 1,500 homes.

Wildfires are so bad in the western United States that about 200 active duty U.S. Army soldiers are being mobilized to help fight them.