Firefighters make progress against massive blaze in California ahead of warming weather

FOREST RANCH, Calif. (AP) — Fire crews worked Tuesday to hold on to the progress made against the largest blaze in California this year ahead of warming temperatures forecast for later this week.

Authorities said containment was 14% and lifted evacuation orders in some communities of Butte County, where the Park Fire started last week before spreading to a neighboring county and scorching an area bigger than Los Angeles. The massive fire continues to burn through rugged, inaccessible terrain with dense vegetation, threatening to spread to two other counties.

“That’s going to be a continued challenge for us moving forward over the next couple of days," said Mark Brunton, an operations section chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Cooler weather has helped firefighters stop the blaze's path near some communities like Forest Ranch, where some people began returning to unscathed homes Tuesday.

Christopher and Anita Angeloni have lived in the community of 1,600 for 23 years and have had to evacuate several times due to wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and decimated the town of Paradise, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) south.

Christopher Angeloni said he constantly worked on creating defensible space around his home and was happy to return home nearly a week after evacuating to see his hard work paid off.

“We were prepared to possibly lose everything,” he said.

Anita Angeloni said it has been a stressful week.

“We have not been sleeping enough, very tense, praying all the time, teary eyes," she said. “But we’re here. We’ll see for how long.”

The Park Fire, now the fifth largest in the state’s recorded history, was one of more than 100 large active wildfires burning in the U.S. on Tuesday. It has scorched nearly 600 square miles (1,551 square kilometers), according to CAL Fire. For comparison, the city of Los Angeles covers about 470 square miles (1,217 square kilometers).

Some blazes were sparked by the weather, with climate change increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the western U.S. endures blistering heat and bone-dry conditions.

The Park Fire started last Wednesday after authorities say a man pushed a burning car down a ravine in Chico. It has destroyed nearly 200 structures and is threatening thousands more. The suspect, Ronnie Dean Stout II, was charged with arson on Monday. His public defender, Nicole Diamond, said in an email she had no comment.

Some progress against the fire was made after cooler temperatures, more humidity and calmer winds in the last few days helped firefighters reach 14% containment as of Tuesday.

In the small forest community of Cohasset in Butte County, Ron Ward ignored evacuation orders last week and stayed behind with his son to defend his property, seeing Park Fire flames hundreds of feet high approach his family ranch.

He had lost insurance coverage on the property just a month earlier as companies increasingly drop California homeowners due to the growing risk of wildfires in the state.

He said the flames reached within 70 feet (21 meters) of his house. Then they stopped.

“It hit our sprinklers and kind of died down and then went around our property and missed, missed all of our structures,” Ward said. His 100-year-old ranch was saved.

Ward had to be the one to call his bookkeeper and neighbors to tell them their homes were gone.

“They haven’t even been able to get back to look at their homes,” he said, tearing up as he recounted last week's experience to The Associated Press in an interview Monday.

All through Cohasset there were remnants of the devastation, with charred mailboxes and vehicles covered with pink fire retardant dropped by aircraft. The husks of a washer and dryer set were surrounded by burned debris and a blackened motorcycle was propped upright, balancing on rims after its tires melted away.

Evacuation orders were in effect Tuesday on 25 wildfires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 27,000 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to wildfires that have burned more than 3,200 square miles (8,288 square kilometers) nationwide, the center said.

In Southern California, people in Kern and Tulare counties were ordered to evacuate because of a fire sweeping through the Sequoia National Forest. The Borel Fire scorched through almost the entirety of the historic mining town of Havilah, officials said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is scheduled to visit the town of 250 people later Tuesday.

“We’re seeing so many of these iconic places in California . . . being quite literally devastated by these new realities,” Newsom said.

The fires burning throughout the state have overwhelmed California’s firefighting capacity and outside help has started to arrive, officials said. Newsom thanked Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott on Tuesday for sending more than two dozen fire engines to help combat the Park Fire this week.

U.S. Fire Administrator Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell said one-third of U.S. residents live in an area where human activities and wildland vegetation intersect, creating a higher potential for wildfires, according to a statement.

“We question living here for sure,” Ward said of his ranch in Cohasset. But generations have remained since his wife's great-grandfather settled there in 1905, and he isn't the one to leave, he said.

“There's a lot of history here,” Ward said. “So we live on this ranch, and we’re committed to this ranch and preserving the ranch.”

Rodriguez reported from San Francisco. AP writers Eugene Garcia, Tran Nguyen and Rebecca Boone contributed.

The Park Fire burns along Highway 36 near Dales, Calif., Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Fire crews light a burn operation along Highway 36 to slow the Park Fire near Dales, Calif., Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

A fire crew walks along Highway 32 near Butte Meadows, Calif., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

A helicopter drops water on the Park Fire near Butte Meadows, Calif., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Andrea Blaylock becomes emotional as she sifts through the charred remains of her home that was destroyed in the Park Fire near Forest Ranch, Calif., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Fire crews light a burn operation along Highway 36 to slow the Park Fire near Dales, Calif., Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

A firefighter walks by the remains of a home that was destroyed in the Park Fire near Forest Ranch, Calif., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Ron Ward, 63, and son Ethan, 31, pose for a photo on their ranch in Cohasset Calif., Monday, July 29, 2024. They've been driving around in a off road cart vehicle putting out spot fires and informing their evacuated neighbors that their homes burned down. Firefighters made progress and were helped by improving weather over the weekend in the battle against wildfires covering massive areas in the western United States, but further evacuations have been necessary as thousands of personnel tackle the flames. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)

The Park Fire burns along Highway 32 near Butte Meadows, Calif., Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

A CalFire firefighter cuts smaller trees along Highway 32 to help control the Park Fire near Butte Meadows, Calif., Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

FILE - This photo provided by the Butte County District Attorney shows Ronnie Dean Stout II of Chico, Calif. Stout was charged with arson, for allegedly starting the Park Fire, during his first court appearance Monday, July 29, 2024. (Butte County District Attorney via AP, File)

A Beckwourth Hot Shot cuts trees along Highway 32 to help control the Park Fire near Butte Meadows, Calif., Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

The Park Fire burns near Butte Meadows, Calif., Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Firefighters put out hot spots from the Park Fire along Highway 32 near Forest Ranch, Calif., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

A firefighter monitors trees burned in the Park Fire along Highway 32 near Forest Ranch, Calif., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

A helicopter carries waters over the Park Fire near Forest Ranch, Calif., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Firefighters put out hot spots from the Park Fire along Highway 32 near Forest Ranch, Calif., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump's demands for a debt limit increase into the new year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season. But the day's outcome was uncertain after Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal — if not, he said in an early morning post, let the closures “start now.”

The House approved Johnson's new bill overwhelmingly, 366-34. The Senate worked into the night to pass it, 85-11, just after the deadline. At midnight, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.

“This is a good outcome for the country, ” Johnson said after the House vote, adding he had spoken with Trump and the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”

President Joe Biden, who has played a less public role in the process throughout a turbulent week, was expected to sign the measure into law Saturday.

“There will be no government shutdown," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered House speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. And it raised stark questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry GOP colleagues, and work alongside Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who called the legislative plays from afar.

Trump's last-minute demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around his pressure for a debt ceiling increase. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the GOP majority to pass any funding package, since many Republican deficit hawks prefer to slash the federal government and certainly wouldn’t allow more debt.

Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate next year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.

“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” scoffed Musk on social media ahead of the vote.

The drastically slimmed-down 118-page package would fund the government at current levels through March 14 and add $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.

Gone is Trump’s demand to lift the debt ceiling, which GOP leaders told lawmakers would be debated as part of their tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It’s essentially the same deal that flopped the night before in a spectacular setback — opposed by most Democrats and some of the most conservative Republicans — minus Trump’s debt ceiling demand.

But it's far smaller than the original bipartisan accord Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.

House Democrats were cool to the latest effort after Johnson reneged on the hard-fought bipartisan compromise.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said it looked like Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, was calling the shots for Trump and Republicans.

“Who is in charge?” she asked during the debate.

Still, the House Democrats put up more votes than Republicans for the bill's passage. Almost three dozen conservative House Republicans voted against it.

“The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, referring to Trump's “Make America Great Again” slogan.

In the Senate, almost all the opposition came from the Republicans — except independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said Musk's interference was “not democracy, that's oligarchy.”

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.

The incoming Trump administration vows to slash the federal budget and fire thousands of employees and is counting on Republicans for a big tax package. And Trump's not fearful of shutdowns the way lawmakers are, having sparked the longest government shutdown in history in his first term at the White House.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now,” Trump posted early in the morning on social media.

More important for the president-elect was his demand for pushing the thorny debt ceiling debate off the table before he returns to the White House. The federal debt limit expires Jan. 1, and Trump doesn't want the first months of his new administration saddled with tough negotiations in Congress to lift the nation's borrowing capacity. Now Johnson will be on the hook to deliver.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump posted — increasing his demand for a new five-year debt limit increase. "Without this, we should never make a deal."

Government workers had already been told to prepare for a federal shutdown that would send millions of employees — and members of the military — into the holiday season without paychecks.

Biden has been in discussions with Jeffries and Schumer, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “Republicans blew up this deal. They did, and they need to fix this.”

As the day dragged on, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell stepped in to remind colleagues “how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it.”

At one point, Johnson asked House Republicans at a lunchtime meeting for a show of hands as they tried to choose the path forward.

It wasn’t just the shutdown, but the speaker’s job on the line. The speaker’s election is the first vote of the new Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, and some Trump allies have floated Musk for speaker.

Johnson said he spoke to Musk ahead of the vote Friday and they talked about the “extraordinary challenges of this job.”

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Capitol is pictured in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., emerges from a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., emerges from a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks with reporters after attending a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as the House works on a spending bill to avert a shutdown of the Federal Government, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump poses for a photo with Dana White, Kid Rock and Elon Musk at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks briefly to reporters just before a vote on an interim spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. The vote failed to pass. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)