The Latest on wildfires burning in the West (all times local):
7 p.m.
Officials say evacuations are underway at a rural subdivision 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, California, as a wildfire climbs out of a steep canyon along the Middle Fork of the American River.
Placer County Sheriff's spokeswoman Dena Erwin says homes near Todd Valley between the cities of Foresthill and Auburn are being evacuated as a 250-acre fire grows.
She did not know how many homes are affected, but says the fire is approaching a subdivision with large lots and a scattered population.
The fire began Tuesday afternoon in El Dorado County before jumping the river and climbing out of the canyon into neighboring Placer County.
California Department of Forestry and Fire protection spokeswoman Lynnette Round says firefighters in the air and on the ground are working in 101-degree heat.
A brush fire burning in central Arizona has forced evacuations and the closure of part of a major interstate.
Dolores Garcia with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says the blaze near the Cordes Junction along Interstate 17 north of Phoenix has charred more than a square mile, and crews are dealing with the effects of thunderstorms that are building in the area.
Strong, erratic winds forced the flames to shift directions and start heading in a southern direction Tuesday evening.
The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office called for mandatory evacuations in portions of Cordes Lakes earlier in the day. Garcia said crews have managed to keep flames from reaching any structures.
Multiple engines, water-dropping helicopters and air tankers are assigned to the fire.

Authorities say firefighters battling a blaze that has scorched almost 72 square miles in Arizona were forced to use their fire shelters following a sudden change in fire activity.
Officials with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Fort Apache Agency said Tuesday the firefighters were able to walk out of the area once it cooled, and none suffered life-threatening injuries.
It's not clear what may have caused the change in fire behavior, and officials say an extensive investigation will follow given that deploying a fire shelter is considered a serious incident.
The blaze has been burning since June 15 and is 75 percent contained.
The crew was working along the remaining uncontrolled fire line when the incident occurred.
A report by the nonpartisan Climate Central says that 11 million Californians are at risk of wildfire and that climate change will lengthen wildfire season.
NASA climatologist Bill Patzert says climate change is a real factor. But he says California has irresponsibly built homes in wildlands as the state's population exploded in recent decades.




Summer has just begun and California's wildfires are already on the move. 
The latest blaze, called the Erskine fire, is estimated to be about 70 square miles and is the state's largest out of the nine ongoing wildfires. The Los Angeles Times reports that so far the fire has claimed the lives of two people and has destroyed 200 structures.
About 2,000 firefighters have been assigned to fight the fire, however, officials estimated on Monday that it was only 45% contained. 
Here are some pictures that illustrate the tragic events surrounding the wildfires in California.



This U.N. official accidentally crushed his own throat right before he was set to testify against Hillary Clinton


Call it conspiracy theory, coincidence or just bad luck, but any time someone is in a position to bring down Hillary Clinton by testifying they wind up dead. In fact, there’s a long history of Clinton-related body counts, with scores of people dying under mysterious circumstances.

Perhaps the most notable is Vince Foster. Foster was a partner at Clinton’s law firm and knew the inner workings of the Clinton Machine.  Police ruled that death a suicide, though it is often noted that Foster may have been suicided.

Now, another official has found himself on the wrong end of the Clintons. That John Ashe was a former President of the United Nations General Assembly highlights the fact that no one is safe once in their sights.

And as you might have guessed, there are major inconsistencies with Ashe’s death. It was not only conveniently timed because Ashe died just a few days before being set to testify against Clinton in a corruption case, but official reports indicated he died of a heart attack.

The problem, however, is that police on the scene reported Ashe died when his throat was crushed during a work-out accident.

The New York Post’s Page Six reported that after Ashe was found dead Wednesday, the U.N. claimed that he had died from a heart attack. Local police officers in Dobbs Ferry, New York, later disputed that claim, saying instead that he died from a workout accident that crushed his throat.
Adding to the mysterious nature of Ashe’s death was the fact that he had been slated to be in court Monday with his Chinese businessman co-defendant Ng Lap Seng, from whom he reportedly received over $1 billion in donations during his term as president of the U.N. General Assembly.
And then there was this: During the presidency of Bill Clinton, Seng illegally funneled several hundred thousand dollars to the Democrat National Committee.