A scenic California mountain town walloped by a blizzard is now threatened by wildfire

Associated Press

RUNNING SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters battling three major wildfires in the mountains east of Los Angeles are taking advantage of cooler weather. They are slowly gaining the upper hand against blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate. The worst danger appeared to have passed Thursday near Reno, Nevada. Evacuation orders have been relaxed around a fire that threatened to burn into the Lake Tahoe basin. California is only now confronting the height of wildfire season but already has seen nearly three times as much acreage burn than during all of last year.