American Scene

Town wins fight to save mailbox

OTISFIELD, Maine — The U.S. Postal Service has decided to keep a rural Maine town’s lone mailbox after a protest that included a phone blitz, pressure from elected officials and a blockade to prevent the box’s removal.

Regional postal spokesman Tom Rizzo said that the agency reversed its earlier decision to get rid of the Otisfield mailbox.

News of Otisfield’s plight drew national attention, and letters of support for the town’s 1,700 residents came from as far as away as California.

Crews get more help to fight fires

DAVENPORT, Calif. — California deployed more fire crews across the state Friday to gain control of a series of growing wildfires that have forced hundreds of people to flee their homes.

In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Lockheed Fire prompted officials to issue mandatory evacuation orders for about 2,400 people in the mountain communities of Swanton and Bonny Doon in Santa Cruz County.

The blaze, which started Wednesday night, blackened 6.4 square miles of remote wilderness and was only about 5 percent contained Friday morning, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

The fire, about 10 miles north of the coastal city of Santa Cruz, has damaged only two small structures but was threatening more than 1,000 others. There have been no reports of injuries related to the fire, whose cause is under investigation.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports