Emergency responders battling three major fires in California may get some relief from the record heat and weather, as a cooling period was required before the fires were brought under some control.
The airport, bridge and line fires have collectively burned more than 300,000 acres of land across the state since they broke out this month, destroyed more than a dozen buildings and injured at least 15 people, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, better known as CalFire.
None are completely enclosed.
A high pressure system that has baked the West for much of September has moved eastward, opening the door to clouds, ocean breezes and the possibility of showers. Hot, flame-fanning winds from the desert are disappearing, and cooler temperatures could help firefighters do their best to fight the fire.
Fire at airport
According to CalFire, the airport fire, which started Monday in the Trabuco Canyon area about 55 miles (88 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, has grown to 55,000 acres (23,494 hectares).
On Friday, firefighters got their first sign of victory: 9% under control.
“The crews had a great day yesterday,” Craig Covey, the fire’s operations chief, said in a video update Friday. “They were able to extinguish it, clean it up and stop the spread.”
Parts of the wildfire were still raging, he said, including sun-exposed parts of the mountains above the marine layer, a blanket of cool clouds that has rolled in from the Pacific Ocean.
“That’s an extremely steep and challenging area,” Covey said.
During the work week, temperatures dropped by about 15 degrees in the area where the airport fire occurred.
The fight has also been helped by bare fire trails from previous fires, which have acted as a kind of barrier for flying flames, he said.
Evacuation orders in some areas near the Airport Fire, named for its proximity to a remotely piloted aircraft facility, have been reduced from mandatory to voluntary. The reduced evacuation includes the Robinson Ranch neighborhood of Rancho Santa Margarita, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.
Authorities were still assessing damage as the fire had spread to nearby Riverside County.
“Multiple structures have been damaged or destroyed by the fire,” a coalition of fire officials known as Unified Command said Friday. “Damage assessment teams are assessing the affected areas to determine the extent.”
Bridge fire
Seventy miles to the north, along the border between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties in the San Gabriel Mountains, firefighters are recording progress after several days of alarming growth of the Bridge Fire. The blaze is now 3% contained.
The fire, which started Sept. 8 near the Bridge to Nowhere, a circa-1936 structure built to replace a road that never was, grew to 130,000 acres by Friday, making it the largest in the state. It threatened buildings in mountain communities east of Los Angeles.
Mountain High, one of three ski resorts in the San Gabriel Mountains, said in a statement Wednesday that its base facilities were intact after the fire ripped through.
In a statement on Friday, the federal fire brigade praised the “excellent work of the firefighters and the moderate weather” for preventing the fire from spreading.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Wednesday that 20 homes were destroyed in the Mount Baldy area and 13 homes in the Wrightwood area. Six cabins in the mountains also burned to the ground, he said.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a statement Thursday that “numerous structures in the Wrightwood area were impacted by the fire, with damage to electrical infrastructure reported.”
More than 1,000 buildings are at risk as mandatory evacuations remain in effect in several communities, including Wrightwood, where Mountain High is located, according to state and federal statements.
Unified Command Chief of Operations Kristian Litz said Friday that active flames were still burning near Wrightwood and in the community of Big Pine, both on the north side of the fire. In those areas, firefighters are faced with steep terrain and forest fuel that could revive the fire.
On the south side are neighborhoods that are vulnerable to flames, he said. “We are preparing and planning for a full suppression effort,” Litz said.
Line fire
Also in San Bernardino County, about 40 miles east of the Bridge Fire, firefighters battling the mountainous 38,074-acre Line Fire made the best progress, with the blaze being 25% contained as of Friday.
On Thursday, officials with the Unified Command said more than 65,000 homes were threatened by the fire. On Friday, Unified Command Chief Jeremy Pierce said the fire was largely contained in the Highland foothills, near where the fire started on Sept. 5, and evacuees were cleared to return.
“We are confident the fire in that area has been extinguished,” Pierce said in a video update Friday.
There were still active flames on Keller Peak, about 22 miles northeast of Highland, he said. “We’re going to benefit from the high humidity, we’re going to benefit from the lack of wind,” Pierce said.
A suspect, Justin Wayne Halstenberg, 34, was arrested and charged with arson for allegedly setting the fire, county authorities said. The motive was unknown, they said, and it was not clear whether he had retained an attorney for the case. The San Bernardino public defender’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Of the firefighters injured in the three fires, three have been linked to the Line Fire. All suffered minor injuries, said Fabian Herrera, spokesman for the joint fire command.
One building was destroyed and three others were damaged, he said.
Prediction can support effort
Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency and said he has secured federal aid for residents in the four counties affected by the fires. He also said mutual aid from Washington, Utah and North Dakota, including firefighters, has been sent to Southern California.
Nearly 6,000 troops and 60 aircraft, including National Guard planes capable of dropping water, have been deployed to battle the fires.
The weather forecast gives firefighters time to fight the three fires throughout the weekend and beyond, without temperatures rising too high.
According to the National Weather Service in San Diego, which covers the areas where the fires have broken out (except Los Angeles County), a cool low pressure system moving in from the Pacific Ocean is expected to drop temperatures even further.
But over the weekend of September 21, “significant warming” could bring temperatures back to summer levels just as autumn sets in, the report said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
