Camper arrested for sequoia fire

KERNVILLE, Calif. -- Hundreds of firefighters struggled in erratic wind and rugged terrain Wednesday to save giant sequoias from an out-of-control forest fire. Investigators, meanwhile, arrested a woman whose campfire may have started the blaze.

The wildfire blackened more than 50,000 acres, half of that inside Giant Sequoia National Monument, in a region that has had little rain.

A 45-year-old woman was taken into custody Wednesday at her Bakersfield home on suspicion of causing the blaze, Forest Service officer Brian Adams said. He said authorities tracked her down from witness descriptions.

Flames got to within two miles of a grove of sequoias called the Trail of 100 Giants, and within a mile of the Packsaddle Grove, which contains a tree with the fourth-largest circumference of any sequoia. Firefighters and forestry officials worried that the wind might push the blaze even closer.