SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Firefighters around the West are taking advantage of improving weather conditions.

Better weather is helping fire crews make strides against stubborn wildfires that have destroyed homes, forced evacuations and scorched hundreds of thousands of acres.

Near Redding, Calif., 1,000 firefighters spent Friday battling a growing blaze that threatened dozens of homes amid tinder-dry conditions. Authorities say the 1,200-acre wildfire is now 60 percent contained after destroying two outbuildings and damaging five homes. Full containment is expected by later today.

In Colorado, fire officials declared the state's most destructive wildfire 98 percent contained Friday night.

Colorado Springs officials lifted evacuation orders for 126 more homes at a 28-square-mile fire that started late last month and has damaged or destroyed nearly 350 homes and killed two people.

In Wyoming and Montana, a lull in hot weather, damp conditions and shifting winds helped thousands of firefighters at separate blazes.