New wildfires grow in Northern California as firefighters gain ground against big blaze in the south [Video]

Big new wildfires challenged California firefighters Tuesday even as they increased containment of earlier blazes that erupted as dry north winds arrived over the weekend.

Evacuations were ordered after the Aero Fire erupted Monday and spread over more than 8 square miles near Copperopolis, a small community in Calaveras County, about 100 miles east of San Francisco in the state’s historic Gold Country region.

Authorities set up three evacuation centers, but the number of evacuees was unknown.

Three structures were destroyed and one was damaged, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. A decrease in winds and a rise in relative humidity overnight helped firefighters gain 20% containment.

The Aero Fire is among the latest blazes to erupt in California in a matter of days as a quiet start to fire season suddenly became active, with flames consuming drying grasses and brush encouraged by back-to-back wet winters. Most of the fires have been kept small, but a handful have charred thousands …