SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Wildfires barreled across the baking landscape of the western U.S. and Canada, destroying a smattering of homes, forcing thousands to flee and temporarily trapping children and counselors at a California campground.

A pair of wildfires egged on by record-breaking heat in Southern California quickly spread, threatening hundreds of homes and forcing evacuations at a popular lakeside campground and a summer camp.

The fire that started early Saturday afternoon in Santa Barbara County had spread to both sides of Highway 154 and was completely out of control, county fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni said. About 90 children and 50 counselors were stuck at the Circle V Ranch and had to take shelter until they could be safely evacuated.

High temps and dry gusts tripled the size of another Santa Barbara wildfire to nearly 30 square miles over eight hours and forced evacuations of about 200 homes in a rural area east of Santa Maria, fire spokesman Kirk Sturm said.

In Northern California, a Butte County wildfire swept through grassy foothills and destroyed 10 structures, including homes, and led to several minor injuries.

And firefighters were contending with nearly 200 wildfires burning in British Columbia that had destroyed dozens of buildings, including several homes and two airport hangars. The three biggest fires, which ranged in size from 5 to 8 square miles, had forced thousands of people to flee.

The province has been sending as many firefighters as it can to contain the flames – more than 1,000 were battling the fires, backed by hundreds of support staff.

Cliff Chapman, the deputy manager at the Kamloops Fire Centre, suggested Saturday was a day he’d never forget.

“I’ve been in this business for 17 years, from crew all the way up to where I am now, and I haven’t experienced a day like we experienced yesterday,” he said.

Elsewhere in the West

In Colorado, residents of nearly 500 homes outside the ski town of Breckenridge were allowed to return home Friday night. On Saturday, authorities lifted an evacuation order in Landusky, Montana, in the Little Rocky Mountains south of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

A grass fire in northwestern Colorado had burned 18 square miles and was spreading in several directions at once because of wind patterns from passing thunderstorms, fire spokesman Chris Barth said.

A wildfire in southern Wyoming grew to 3 square miles (8 square kilometers). An unknown number of cabins remained under evacuation orders.

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