SAN FRANCISCO — Coastal fog brought hope of relief to some firefighters battling Northern California wildfires early Monday even as a massive plume of soot choked the foothills along the state’s eastern edge.

More than 1,000 blazes were still burning throughout the region as concern grew over two fires in the Tahoe National Forest, high in the mountains between Sacramento and Reno.

The blazes left a blanket of smoke on the Interstate 80 corridor linking the two cities, and throughout the foothill communities in between where tens of thousands of people live. It forced the evacuation of the tiny Gold Rush community of Washington, in Nevada County.

Meanwhile, the fire closest to the scenic coastal community of Big Sur was just 3 percent contained, the same as late last week, said John Heil, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. It has burned about 39,600 acres.

Firefighters made progress on a blaze of comparable size in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, increasing their containment to 23 percent. But the harsh territory hampered their efforts.

“It is extremely steep, very rugged territory, and there are a lot of injuries, twisting ankles, slipping on hills,” said Jason Kirchner, another Forest Service spokesman. Burning debris is “rolling downhill right past your containment line. It’s very complicated, difficult, dirty firefighting work.”

No new major fires had broken out so far Monday, and fire crews inched closer to getting some of the largest of 1,420 blazes surrounded, according to the state Office of Emergency Services. Some 364,600 acres — or almost 570 square miles — have burned.

A “red flag warning” — meaning the most extreme fire danger — was still in effect for the extreme northeast corner of the state. And the coming days and months are expected to bring little relief.

Lower-than-average rainfall and record levels of parched vegetation likely mean a long, fiery summer throughout northern California, according to the Forest Service’s state fire outlook released last week.

The fires burning now were mostly sparked by lightning storms that were unusually intense for so early in the season. But summer storms would probably be even fiercer, according to the Forest Service.

“Our most widespread and/or critical lightning events often occur in late July or August, and we have no reason to deviate from that,” the agency’s report said.

The blazes have destroyed more than 50 buildings, said Gregory Renick, state emergency services spokesman. More than 19,500 firefighters are battling the blazes and 926 helicopters have been used.

A fire in the Piute Mountain area has burned more than 2,000 acres, causing some small communities to be evacuated, most vacation homes.

On Saturday, President Bush issued an emergency declaration for California and ordered federal agencies to assist in firefighting efforts.

But California emergency officials said state and local governments would also need federal financing to cover the costs of fighting so many fires this early in the year.

Federal aid now includes four Marine Corps helicopters, remote sensing of the fires by NASA, federal firefighters, and the activation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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On the Net:

Fire information at http://www.oes.ca.gov