Cool weather aids wildfire crews

Photo by. AP LAKE ELSINORE — Aided by slightly cooler temperatures, firefighters made steady progress Sunday in battling a wildfire that destroyed 16 structures as it raged through Southern California’s Cleveland National Forest.

The Holy Fire was 41 percent contained Sunday afternoon after burning across 35.5 square miles (92 kilometers) of dry timber and brush, said Lynne Tolmachoff of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“The weather out here in California seems to be cooling down today and over the next couple days, and that should hopefully help firefighters get even more containment,” Tolmachoff said. “They should make better progress over the next couple of days.”

They’ll need to, with temperatures, expected to again reach 100 degrees or more by the end of the week.

In Taiwan, nine people were killed and 15 injured in a blaze that broke out early Monday at a hospice for the terminally ill near capital Taipei, fire officials said.

All of the 36 people inside, including three staff, were evacuated after the fire started at the hospice on the seventh floor of a nine-storey hospital in New Taipei city. AFP and AP

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