Crews are battling ‘fire whirls’ in California’s Mojave Desert

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — Crews battled “fire whirls” in California’s Mojave National Preserve as a massive wildfire crossed into Nevada amid dangerously high temperatures and raging winds. The York Fire was mapped at roughly 120 square miles Monday with no containment. The blaze erupted Friday near the remote Caruthers Canyon area of the vast wildland preserve, crossed the state line into Nevada on Sunday and sent smoke further east into the Las Vegas Valley. Wind-driven flames 20 feet high in some spots charred tens of thousands of acres of desert scrub, juniper and Joshua tree woodland. The fire whirls were spotted Sunday on the north end of the York Fire. The fire’s cause is under investigation.