SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Firefighters around the West on Friday were taking advantage of improving weather conditions to make strides against stubborn wildfires — even containment in some locales — that have destroyed homes, forced evacuations and scorched hundreds of thousands of acres of timber and brush.

In Redding, Calif., a growing blaze was threatening dozens of homes amid tinder-dry conditions. It erupted into a 2-square-mile fire less than a day after it was spotted.

"Even though there are no extreme winds and temperatures, this fire really burned because of how dry the conditions are," said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "That's concerning because when you don't have peak fire conditions, you still have a blaze that burned so quickly."