Blaze mostly contained in California
The fires have burned at least 507 acres.
MCCLOUD, Calif. (AP) -- A lightning-caused wildfire in northern California was 60 percent contained Saturday, but firefighters worried that wind gusts up to 30 mph could blow the flames into major power lines delivering electricity to the state.
"It really depends on what the weather does," said Mike Giannini, a spokesman for a team of federal, state and local firefighters battling the blaze near the Oregon state line. "If the weather cooperates, then we'll be in better shape. If we get a significant wind event, there's an increased possibility it could affect the transmission lines."
In the Nebraska Panhandle, evacuees were allowed to return home after a blaze threatened the town of Chadron, but ordered to leave again hours later when another fire quickly grew and threatened the town.
Firefighters also reported progress against fires in Oregon and South Dakota.
The Northern California blaze was a half-mile from California-Oregon Transmission Project power lines and three-quarters of a mile from lines used by the Western Area Power Administration and Pacific Gas & amp; Electric Co., Giannini said.
The California Independent System Operator, which manages most of the state's power grid, said Friday that it had contingency plans to reroute electricity around the transmission lines if they failed or had to be shut down because of the fire.
The lines together carry about 4,200 megawatts between Washington's Bonneville Power Administration and California.
Damage
The blaze had charred 507 acres in mountainous terrain about 200 miles north of Sacramento and 70 miles northwest of Redding. Crews hoped to have it contained by Monday night.
About 1,200 people evacuated from Chadron, Neb., because of three grass and forest fires were allowed to return Saturday morning, but some of those were ordered to leave again in the afternoon.
The second fire that threatened the city of about 5,600 people had grown from 150 acres to more than 5,000 acres in about four hours, said Marc Mullenix, the federal incident commander.
The blazes damaged and destroyed some homes Friday on the south of Chadron, a city of about 5,600 people. The largest of the three fires had charred 5,000 acres, or nearly 8 square miles, and was 5 to 10 percent contained.
West of Chadron at Harrison, 26 families had been evacuated because of a pair of fires. Harrison officials estimated Friday that one of the blazes had blackened about one square mile and the second had burned as much as 16 square miles.
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