| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Crews contain 1,300-acre wildfire near Santa Maria
Tuesday August 12, 2003SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) A 1,300-acre blaze that jumped fire lines was contained Tuesday morning in hilly country east of town, authorities said.
The fire that began Sunday afternoon burned through brush and grass in Chimney Creek, about 17 miles east of town and 150 miles north of Los Angeles.
It came within a few miles of Los Padres National Forest but did not burn any of the scattered homes in the area.
Hot, dry weather helped the blaze spread and it jumped firebreaks Monday.
The fire was declared surrounded at 8 a.m. Tuesday. It was fought by 526 federal, state and local firefighters aided by two water-dropping helicopters, said Jenni Ender, a dispatcher with the California Department of Forestry.
The cause of the blaze remained under investigation.
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