Though blustering pockets of weekend rain helped firefighters progress against the third-largest wildfire in California history, the U.S. Forest Service reported that by Monday the blaze continued to smolder within Stanislaus National Forest and was not fully contained.
The Rim Fire was expected by forest service officials to be fully contained by Sept. 20, but remained out of complete control, the update said.
The conflagration supposedly began Aug. 17 when investigators say a hunter’s illegal campfire escaped his control.
Since then, the inferno about 45 miles north of Oakhurst burned through 257,097 acres with 11 homes and more than 100 other buildings claimed in its path...