Hundreds of homes evacuated as pair of California wildfires burn more than 5,000 acres

LOS ANGELES -- Firefighters hope to begin building containment lines around two wildfires in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, KTLA reports.

U.S. Forest Service spokesman Nathan Judy says the fires a few miles apart above foothill suburbs have together burned nearly 8½ square miles as of Tuesday morning but no homes have been lost.

The heat wave that has seared Southern California since last weekend will not be as extreme as it was on Monday, but firefighters will be facing near-triple-digit temperatures and single-digit humidity.

West of Santa Barbara, firefighters have increased containment of a nearly 12½-square-mile blaze to 70 percent a week after it started.

Weather is expected to remain favorable for several days and mandatory evacuation orders will start to be reduced Wednesday.

East of San Diego, a wildfire burning near the desert town of Potrero is holding at just under 12 square miles although it remains only 5 percent contained.

Some New Mexico fire evacuees returning home

Hundreds of firefighters have cleared the way for some evacuees to return to their homes in central New Mexico.

Authorities in Bernalillo and Torrance counties lifted evacuation orders in some areas Tuesday after crews contained nearly half of a wildfire that has destroyed two dozen homes.

National Guard and law enforcement officers are stationed along main roads to check IDs as people return. Gov. Susana Martinez planned to be among those working the checkpoints.

The governor is urging federal authorities to assess damage so preparations can be made before monsoon season brings possible flooding problems.

The human-caused fire was reported June 14. It raced across 28 square miles of tinder-dry forest in the Manzano Mountains south of Albuquerque until more favorable weather helped to slow its growth.

In northern New Mexico, crews contained a fire that had threatened popular recreation spots in the Jemez Mountains.