Homes burn in Southern California as wildfires rage across West during heat wave – NEWSnet

Forest fire in the west.

MGN via Forest Service NW/Twitter

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (NEWSnet/AP) — Three homes were destroyed Monday after one of several dangerous wildfires across the western U.S. ravaged a Southern California neighborhood during a scorching heat wave.

The homes burned when the fire broke out Sunday afternoon in a hilly area of Riverside, a city about 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.

Four other buildings were damaged, a Riverside deputy fire chief said.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the fire, which destroyed an area of almost a square kilometre.

In Riverside, temperatures reached 102 degrees on Sunday, amid a heat wave that has focused on inland California and is expected to last much of the week.

Numerous other fires were also burning across the state, including one that started Saturday and quickly spread to more than 4 square miles on the border of Lake and Colusa counties, northwest of Sacramento. Containment reached 25% on Monday.

More than two dozen fires were burning in the Pacific Northwest and Idaho. Lightning strikes sparked more fires in Oregon over the weekend amid extremely dry and hot conditions.

The largest fires were burning in rural areas of eastern Oregon and Washington, where smoke affected air quality.

Meanwhile, authorities in Utah have lifted evacuation orders due to a wildfire in Salt Lake City over the weekend that posed a threat to neighborhoods near the Capitol.

The fire started on Saturday and spread to about 200 hectares.

The evacuation order was lifted Sunday evening, but authorities warned that residents should be prepared to evacuate as the fire was only partially contained Monday morning.