Evacuees Return, Damage Measured As Western Wildfires Wane

Relief was arriving after a rough stretch of wildfires all around the U.S. West, with firefighters slowly surrounding once-fierce blazes and evacuees starting to stream back home. Authorities surveying the damage from a blaze in Northern California said Tuesday that at least 41 homes and 55 other buildings had been destroyed near the town of Oroville. Some residents had returned home after fleeing the flames in the grassy foothills of the Sierra Nevada, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) north of Sacramento, but thousands remained evacuated as the fire entered its fifth day. The blaze burned nearly 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) and injured four firefighters. It was 55 percent contained.