Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters
Firefighters continued to battle the growing Springs Fire as it reached the beaches of Ventura County in California on Friday and pushed its way toward the upscale city of Malibu.
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Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters
A firefighter walks through a burnt area after a fire in a rural area of Brazil, Sept. 3, 2012. Drought, high temperatures and low humidity have caused fires to start in several places of Brazil, according to officials.
Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters
Firefighters gather during efforts to extinguish a fire in rural Brazil, Sept. 3.
Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters
A man leads his horses away as firefighters try to extinguish a fire in rural Brazil, Sept. 3.
Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters
A plane drops fire retardant in rural Brazil, Sept. 3.
Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters
A Southern Crested Caracara stands on burnt farmland after a fire in rural Brazil, Sept. 3.
William Luther / San Antonio Express-News via AP
Fire damage is seen in an aerial image taken over the wildfires in the Bastrop, Texas area on Sept. 6.
William Luther / San Antonio Express-News via AP
A few trees remain standing amid the devasation caused by wildfires in the Bastrop, Texas area on Sept. 6.
msnbc.com reports:
The 34,000-acre Bastrop County Complex fire, which has forced the evacuation of about 5,000 people in the rural community, was about 30 percent contained Wednesday thanks to the easing of winds from Tropical Storm Lee, which fanned flames over the weekend.
"Even though the fuels are critically dry, the grass is dry and the relative humidity is still pretty low, they were able to take advantage of lower winds," said April Saginor, public information officer for the Texas Forest Service. Read the full story.
See more images of the Texas wildfires in our slideshow.
Update, September 8, 08:45 ET:
This post was updated on September 8 to correct a misleading headline. Thanks to Newsvine user beth-4037097, who pointed out that the original headline, Cops: Teen arsonists sought over Texas wildfire, referred to a different fire to the one depicted in the photographs below. The arsonists were sought in connection with a fire in the city of Leander, Texas, as reported by the Austin-American Statesman.
Original post:
Rich Shulman writes:
It's amazing that the fire spared this one house.
Recent PhotoBlog posts from Texas wildfires and drought.
Eric Gay / AP
Homes destroyed by wildfire are seen Wednesday, Sept. 7 in Bastrop, Texas. The fire has destroyed more than 600 homes and blackened about 45 square miles in and around Bastrop. A search team on Wednesday will begin looking for more possible victims of the fire, which has killed two people and forced thousands to evacuate.
Eric Gay / AP
A row of homes destroyed by wildfire are seen, Wednesday, Sept. 7 in Bastrop, Texas. The fire has destroyed more than 600 homes and blackened about 45 square miles in and around Bastrop. A search team on Wednesday will begin looking for more possible victims of the fire, which has killed two people and forced thousands to evacuate.
Evan Lewis / The Texarkana Gazette via AP
Residents discuss ways they can help fight the fires in Linden, Texas, on Sept. 6. One of the most devastating wildfire outbreaks in Texas history left more than 1,000 homes in ruins Tuesday and stretched the state's firefighting ranks to the limit.
Ryan Edwards / The Daily Texan via AP
A house burns off of Texas State Highway 21 on Sept. 6. One of the most destructive wildfires in Texas history is plowing across rain-starved grasslands now littered with hundreds of charred homes.
Tamir Kalifa / The Daily Texan via AP
Bob Hill takes care of his contracting business while Pat Sawyer puts out a small flame on the side of his office building in Texas on Sept. 6. Hill owns three properties side-by-side and was able to save his home and rental property by clearing brush away with his backhoe.
NBC, msnbc.com and news services report from BASTROP, Texas:
One of the most devastating wildfire outbreaks in Texas history left more than 1,000 homes in ruins Tuesday and stretched the state's firefighting ranks to the limit, confronting Gov. Rick Perry with a major disaster at home just as the GOP presidential contest heats up.
More than 180 fires have erupted in the past week across the rain-starved Lone Star State, and nearly 600 of the homes destroyed since then were lost in one catastrophic blaze in and around Bastrop, near Austin. That blaze raged out of control Tuesday for a third day. Continue reading.
See more images of the fires in our slideshow.
Erich Schlegel / Getty Images
A statue of a woman holding a water bucket stands in front of the remnants of a burned down home on the east side of Lake Bastop on September 6 outside Bastrop, Texas. Several large wildfires have been devastating Bastrop County for the last two days.
There is something very spooky about this statue, like something out of the Twilight Zone.
The blaze near Austin continues to rage out of control. Full story.
Roberto E. Rosales / AP
The Las Conchas fire near the town of Los Alamos is still smoldering the distance Sunday, July 4 on what was supposed to be a festive Fourth of July. Pictured in the foreground is a fire fighting helicopter grounded at the Los Alamos airport . There were no fireworks for this community on that night. Los Alamos, New Mexico.
The evacuation order was lifted Sunday, and residents returned to the city. Slideshow.
As Reuters reported:
Firefighters battling New Mexico's monster Las Conchas wildfire fought on Tuesday to beat the blaze back from around the sacred Chicoma Mountain, a peak considered the spiritual center for a nearby Indian tribe.
The fire, which last week lapped at the edges of the Los Alamos nuclear complex and forced its closure, has already consumed nearly 15,000 acres on the Santa Clara Indian reservation since Sunday as it spread northward.
Brad Pitassi, a spokesman for a multi-agency fire command team, said the wildfire, New Mexico's largest, had seen "very little growth" on the reservation since Monday. A fireline drawn to protect the pueblo continued to hold, and no homes or other buildings were in immediate danger.
Photographer Morgan Petroski of the Albuquerque Journal shared with us her latest images of the Las Conchas fire, which continues to threaten the town of Los Alamos, N.M. and its nuclear weapons lab.
Morgan Petroski / Albuquerque Journal
A wave of smoke billows and fills a canyon as the Las Conchas fire creeps into the canyon on June 29.
Morgan Petroski / Albuquerque Journal
The Las Conchas fire burns along the top of a mesa on June 29.
Morgan Petroski / Albuquerque Journal
What seems to be a river of smoke, winds its way through a canyon as the Las Conchas fire burns the underbrush on June 29.
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Jane Phillips / The New Mexican via AP
Carissa Pittman consoles her daughter, Emily, 15, while her husband, Pete, in the car and son, Allen, 21, prepare to leave Los Alamos, N.M., because of the wildfire on June 27. Thousands of residents calmly fled Monday from the mesa-top town that's home to the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory, ahead of an approaching wildfire.
Craig Fritz / Reuters
Flames from the Las Conchas fire burn in the hills above Los Alamos National Laboratory on June 27. The fast-moving wildfire raged on Monday near the edge of the nation's preeminent nuclear facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory, a vast complex that houses research laboratories and a plutonium facility. Authorities said there was little threat to sensitive areas of the 28,000-acre complex, where explosives are stored in underground concrete and steel bunkers.
Craig Fritz / AP
Gary Thayer takes out a cooler of food as he prepares to leave following the mandatory evacuation of Los Alamos, N.M., on June 27.
Craig Fritz / AP
The Morrison family, Dee, top left, Taylor, 4, right, Bob, and Jeni, center, pack up their belongings following a mandatory evacuation ordered for Los Alamos on June 27.
msnbc.com news services report from LOS ALAMOS, N.M.:
Firefighters struggled early Tuesday to hold back a fierce blaze roaring out of control at the edge of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a sprawling nuclear weapons complex that includes a plutonium facility.
Flames licked all day at the boundary of the laboratory site, home to the nation's largest supply of nuclear weapons, as fire crews scurried to douse spot fires carried onto the grounds by winds from the leading edge of the blaze.
The laboratory was shut down, and the adjacent town of Los Alamos, home to about 12,000 people, was placed under a mandatory evacuation earlier. Continue reading.
See more images in our slideshow: Wildfires char Southwest U.S.
Tom Pennington / Getty Images
Emergency crews drop a fire retardant slurry on a running wildfire to save a house on April 19, in Strawn, Texas.
Tom Pennington / Getty Images
A running wildfire threatens a home on April 19, in Strawn, Texas. Dozens of area homes have been destroyed in the wildfires that have been fueled by dry conditions, high winds, and low humidity.
AP reports: Five fires have burned at least 100,000 acres each in Texas in the past two weeks. Most of the state is in extreme drought, and wildfires in the past week alone have burned more than 1,000 square miles of parched Texas ranchland — an area that combined would be the size of Rhode Island.
Read more about the ongoing wildfire in Texas
Andrey Smirnov / Getty Images
Russian people dig a ditch to protect them from fires in the village Mokhovoye, Lukhovitsi municipal district, about 80 miles from Moscow, on August 3, 2010. Russia's worst heatwave for decades shows no sign of relenting, officials warned as firefighters battled hundreds of wildfires in a national disaster that has claimed at least 40 lives. President Dmitry Medvedev has declared a state of emergency in seven Russian regions.
The pictures moving out of Russia today from the fires reminds me a little of the sandstorm photos from Iraq. More photos from Russia.
Michael Anhaeuser / EPA
Smoke covers the sky over the village of Marathokampo as a huge wildfire rages nearby on Samos Island, in eastern Greece, August 2, 2010. The wildfire in the Marathokampo and Karlovassos regions is threatening residential areas. Hotels in the area were evacuated in a preventative move.
This looks bad.
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