SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Crews were building containment lines around a blaze that briefly threatened 30 rural homes near the San Bernardino Mountains, hoping to get the upper hand on the 200-acre fire before winds were expected to pick up.
The fire was 40 percent contained and just smoldering early Wednesday, said San Bernardino National Forest fire information spokeswoman Carol Underhill.
Helicopters and a DC-10 made massive water drops on the brushy foothills of the mountain range and had reduced much of the blaze to white smoke.
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Underhill said the more than 400 firefighters hoped to make substantial progress Wednesday before windy conditions moved in.
Residents of about 30 homes near the fire were ordered to evacuate shortly after flames erupted Tuesday afternoon, but they were allowed to return just before midnight.
The fire was sparked near Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass, a heavily traveled truck route east of Los Angeles. It was burning at the base of the pass in the Sycamore Flats area.
Meanwhile, a 250-acre wildfire in the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles was 72 percent contained Wednesday, said Nathan Judy, a spokesman with the U.S. Fire Service.
"There are no active flames and crews are in mop-up mode," Judy said
No homes were threatened. Full containment was expected by Friday.
At the fire's height, about 450 firefighters were aided by aircraft, which included drops by Super Scoopers and heavy helicopters. Three firefighters were treated for minor injuries, Judy said.
High temperatures in the region had reached the upper 80s, but Judy said they were cooling down. Forecasters said an upper-level, low pressure area moving into the Pacific Northwest Wednesday would cause an increasing flow of cool, moist air from the ocean onto the land.
The fire was burning in terrain east of the 250-square-mile area of the Angeles National Forest that was devastated by the 2009 Station Fire.
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