Gold Rush Fire Evacuees Return

Thousands returned to their homes today as fire officials, heartened by a day of favorable weather, lifted evacuation orders and reopened all major highways where a fire ravaged the Gold Rush country.

Calmer winds, lower temperatures and higher humidity helped crews as they bulldozed lines around more than 90% of the 3-day-old blaze, which gutted nearly 100 homes and threatened as many as 5,000. “The fire really laid down. It was even hard to find embers in some regions,” overnight fire operations chief Bill Holmes said today.