California camp spared from wildfire's destruction

A Christian children's camp and retreat center was largely spared from a wildfire that has destroyed well over 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) of land in northern California.

Leoni Meadows Camp executive director Craig Heinrich told KXTV that he credits firefighters with saving the camp from destruction.

"They came in and they dug in and they saved us," he said.

In areas further from the fire lines, crews were clearing brush from homes and business were hosing down buildings.

Millions of acres of national forest in Northern California are being closed because of dangerous fire conditions that already have sent a score of blazes raging through the area and destroyed hundreds of homes.

The U.S. Forest Service announced Thursday that beginning on Aug. 22 it will close nine national forests from near Lake Tahoe at the Nevada border all the way west to Six Rivers National Forest.

The Eldorado National Forest already had been closed because of the Caldor Fire, which gutted the Sierra Nevada town of Grizzly Flats this week.

IMAGE: AP