FIRES STILL BLAZING IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Byline: Associated Press 

Major fires continued to rage in Northern California forests and wild land Sunday, charring a total of roughly 70,000 acres. And while firefighters bolstered their forces, there was little hope any of the blazes would be contained soon.

The fires included the Fork fire north of Clear Lake that had scorched 46,500 acres; the Ackerson complex, a series of 13 fires that burned 12,000 acres, including part of Yosemite National Park; and the Rogge fire, which had consumed 10,500 acres a little north of the Ackerson fires.

``We've got people here from Florida, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, pretty much all over the United States,'' said David Witt, a National Forest Service information officer who was monitoring the Rogge and Ackerson blazes. ``We're definitely improving the (fire) line. It's a united front.''

The fires posed different problems, he said.

The Rogge blaze, about 45 percent contained by Sunday morning, was burning in steep, brushy terrain that was, in places, inaccessible. If it reached the north fork of the Tuolumne River, the fire would threaten the several hundred residents of Tuolumne City, he said.

``This area burned in 1987, and it was ready to burn again,'' Witt said.

Most of the 13 Ackerson complex fires were burning ``very intensely, very erratically,'' with the aid of heavy fuels typical of forest land. The fires were considered only 10 percent contained.

Some two dozen Yosemite park employees living in the Hetch Hetchy area were forced to evacuate over the weekend. Roughly 850 firefighters were battling the Ackerson fires, but more were needed, Witt said.

Dwarfing both those blazes was the week-old Fork fire, which had charred roughly 46,500 acres in Lake and Colusa counties. It was sending ash dozens of miles south toward Santa Rosa, where the sky was hazy because of smoke. The fire was only 15 percent contained.