Cooler weather has helped more than 8,600 emergency personnel strengthen containment lines around three major wildfires in Southern California that have burned tens of thousands of acres, forcing evacuations and destroying dozens of structures across the region.
By Sunday, the largest blaze — the Bridge Fire in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties — scorched over 54,000 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). Since the fire began on Sept. 8, it has destroyed at least 49 structures and threatened more than 12,000 other structures.
Firefighters made progress overnight, working to establish and strengthen containment lines around the flames, the U.S. Forest Service said Sunday. As of Sunday morning, the Bridge Fire was 9% contained as over 2,600 firefighters battled the blaze.
“Last night, firefighters continued establishing and strengthening direct containment lines while constructing secondary contingency lines with dozers and hand crews throughout the fire area. Helicopters could not fly last night due to the smoke inversion layer hampering visibility,” the U.S. Forest Service said in a Sunday update. “Despite this, firefighters gained 4% containment on the fire’s southern flank.”