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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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Crews contain 1,300-acre wildfire near Santa Maria
Tuesday August 12, 2003
SANTA 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.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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