LOS ANGELES — Firefighters made progress early yesterday against a wildfire blazing in the brush-covered hills behind the city’s iconic Griffith Observatory. Animals at the nearby Los Angeles Zoo were moved indoors, and dozens of homes were evacuated.The 600-acre blaze in sprawling Griffith Park was just one that US firefighters were battling across the nation. A wildfire in northern Minnesota has already destroyed 40 homes and buildings, and brush fires in Georgia and northern Florida have charred more than 200 square miles.

Overnight, five helicopters flew dangerous water-dropping missions in Los Angeles, helping fire crews get the blaze about 40 percent contained.

Griffith Park is a mix of wilderness, cultural sites, horse and hiking trails and recreational facilities set on more than 4,000 acres in the hills between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

Visitors to its Greek Theatre, Observatory and the Museum of the American West were told to leave. At the Autry National Center, which includes a museum of Western artifacts, staff threw tarps over the collections to protect them in case the sprinkler system went off, said Faith Raiguel, chief operating officer.

The flames forced officials to put most of the Los Angeles Zoo’s 1,200 animals inside holding quarters.

About 35 people who live near the park, out of an estimated 300 evacuated from nearby homes, checked in to an evacuation centre at a high school. Authorities hoped residents would be able to return to their homes by evening.

The fire destroyed Dante’s View, a trailside terraced garden on Mount Hollywood, said City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

“This is a very sad night for Los Angeles,” he said.

On the East Coast, authorities evacuated about 300 homes in northern Florida as two fires totalling 130,000 acres — about 203 square miles — continued to rage on the Georgia-Florida line. Florida officials warned that they might soon need help if the blazes grow out of control.

A 107,000-acre blaze in Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge was called the largest blaze in state history and was nearing part of the park that has served as a fire crew command post. Another fire 10 miles away covered 40,000 acres.

The smaller fire crossed into Florida on Tuesday and was threatening Taylor, a small town with one store and no cell phone coverage, said Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson.

In the Midwest, a wildfire near the Canadian border in northeastern Minnesota had burned 16,266 acres since it was spotted Saturday. It destroyed around 40 buildings, including multimillion-dollar homes, and forced more than 100 people to evacuate.

Authorities said they believe it started at a campsite just outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

In Los Angeles, the cause of the Griffith Park fire was under investigation, though Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said there were “no facts” to indicate the fire was intentionally set.

Police and fire officials offered differing opinions about a man found badly burned near the origin of the fire.

David Schaefer, a fire department paramedic who treated the man for second- and third-degree burns, said the man had fallen asleep while smoking a cigarette and “woke up with his shirt on fire.”

Fire investigators remained interested in the man as the possible source of the fire, Calvillo said. But police Sgt. Lee Sands said the department was finished questioning the man and did not consider him a “person of interest.”