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Fire still rages in California Smoke continued to waft into the Rogue Valley Sunday as an out-of-control forest fire in Northern California grew to an estimated 1,500 acres of blackened brush and timber. More than 900 firefighters, including many from the Rogue Valley, have been dispatched to the Bark Fire, which started Friday morning along Highway 96, west of Yreka in the Klamath National Forest. Crews including ground personnel, air tankers and helicopters are fighting flames burning on steep terrain rich with fuel. "The fire behavior is pretty explosive right now," said Tom Lavagnino, incident information officer for the Oregon and California interagency management team. "It�s nasty out there." Officials do not expect the fire to be controlled until at least mid-week. Triple-digit heat and low afternoon humidity have frustrated efforts to quench the blaze in the cooler morning hours, Lavagnino said. Burning embers have shot past fire control lines, expanding the blaze from about 400 acres on Friday to about 1,000 acres on Saturday and 1,500 acres on Sunday. No injuries have been reported and few structures are threatened, Lavagnino said. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA