3 forest fires burning in California

A forest fire burning in a remote area of the northeast Sierra Nevada spread Saturday but was moving away from homes in Plumas County, officials said.

Smoke from the blaze continued to cause haze and health warnings hundreds of miles away -- as far as the San Joaquin Valley and San Francisco Bay Area. But Saturday’s wind blew much of the smoke northeast toward Susanville.

The Moonlight fire near Greenville expanded to 42,000 acres as wind blew the flames to the north and northeast, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Pandora Valle said. That was up from an estimated 34,100 acres earlier in the day. Relatively light wind Saturday kept the fire burning in that direction, away from inhabited areas.

In Santa Clara County, more than 1,900 firefighters continued to battled a second blaze that has consumed 39,585 acres in Henry W. Coe State Park south of San Jose, said Wayne Rhoten, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fire, which started Monday, was about 45% contained Saturday morning and full containment was expected today, Rhoten said. The blaze has injured four firefighters and destroyed two small structures. Ten outbuildings and 25 homes are threatened.

The blaze was caused by a person who started a fire in a trash barrel but there was no indication that it had been intentionally set, Rhoten said.

A third fire that has burned 600 acres in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest was 80% contained Saturday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service.