Cool weather helps Mont. firefighters

Residents who fled their homes near several Montana wildfires were allowed to return at least briefly Wednesday as fire crews took advantage of cooler, more humid weather in the morning.

Firefighters strengthened the line around a spot fire that started Sunday at the edge of a 54-square-mile fire near the town of Seeley Lake, but the weather forecast was foreboding, with lower humidity and possible thunderstorms predicted.

"We're not really looking for much in the way of help the rest of the week, as far as the weather goes," fire information officer Roger Miller said Wednesday.

The large fire is only about one-third contained, but people were allowed to return to about 150 homes in the area Wednesday morning.

Northwest of Missoula, most of the people who left 120 homes were being allowed to return. Fire officials said a quarter-inch of rain that fell allowed them to rein in the 18-square-mile fire that had forced the residents out.

That fire, which burned three mobile homes, was 35 percent contained Wednesday.

South of Big Timber, evacuees were allowed to return for a few hours during the morning to check on homes near part of a nearly 45-square-mile wildfire. Containment was at 40 percent.

On the West Coast, a wildfire in California's Los Padres National Forest slowed its advance Wednesday or ground already blackened and denuded by backfires, said fire spokesman Larry Comerford. High humidity also helped.

"The weather is cooperating," he said. "It's allowing us to get in and directly attack" portions of the fire.

The fire has charred about 352 square miles since igniting July 4 and is the second-largest blaze in California's modern history.

More than 3,100 firefighters were battling the blaze, assisted by 30 aircraft and bulldozers. The fire was 81 percent contained, but some areas were so rugged that firefighters had to rappel down ropes from helicopters, officials said.

Residents of 30 to 40 ranches in Ventura and Carpinteria counties were advised to move large animals out of the area and be prepared to get out themselves.

In Idaho, New York-based insurance company AIG has sent a fire truck to protect about a dozen homes worth at least $1 million from a fire burning near the resort town of Ketchum that has scorched 22 square miles.

"It's well worth it from an insurance standpoint, to keep these things standing," said Jack Dies, owner of Sun Valley Insurance and a representative for AIG. He said he had insured seven of the threatened homes and estimated their collective value at $35 million.