The almost 1600 firefighters battling the Blue Cut wildfire east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County made their biggest gain Thursday against the ferocious blaze: By Thursday night it was 22 percent contained, a sharp increase from a mere 4 percent containment at the start of the day, officials said.
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The amount of damage from the erratic fire has been hard to estimate, though authorities have said “numerous” buildings have been destroyed, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Though a lot of progress was made Thursday with slowing the fire’s spread, officials say 34,500 structures are still threatened in the communities of Wrightwood, Oak Hills, Phelan, Lytle Creek, Baldy Mesa, West Cajon Valley, South Hesperia, and Summit Valley. The ferocious fire began Tuesday morning around 10:30 a.m.in the Cajon Pass in hot, gusty conditions near Interstate 15, officials said.
A home burns off of Highway 138 as the Blue Cut Fire rages through San Bernardino County Tuesday August 16, 2016.
Also destroyed were 213 outbuildings, said Brad Pitassi, a spokesman for the multi-agency fire command.
Plans were underway to demobilize some of the almost 1,600 firefighters.
“Crews really buttoned up some areas”.
Several areas are under mandatory evacuation, but some people are refusing to leave their homes, the Associated Press reported.
Crews fanned out across fire-ravaged zones to begin inspecting the damage, but many places were still too risky to enter.
The Soberanes Fire in Monterey County remains 60 percent contained and is now 81,396 acres.
The dry vegetation is like firewood, said fire information officer Sean Collins.
In mountains north of San Francisco, a 6-square-mile blaze was 55 percent contained after destroying at least 268 structures, including 175 homes and eight businesses, in the working-class community of Lower Lake.
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The equipment manager, or “armorer”, of the U.S. Olympic fencing team, was among those who lost their homes.
