Silverado, Acreage in North Still Burning

Firefighters partially contained an arson-set blaze that raged through more than 2,000 acres of rugged canyons bordering Orange and Riverside counties Thursday, but they offered little word when the fire might be completely under control.

“It might be 24 hours before we have the upper hand,” said Thomas Horner, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service in San Bernardino.

The blaze, dubbed the Silverado fire, Thursday earned a place on the state’s “priority” list of 1,247 fires that have plagued the state since late August.

So far, only one minor injury was reported in this newest fire, and no homes were threatened.

Under Control

Another suspicious fire, west of Perris in Riverside County, which on Wednesday burned 546 acres, including a house, was brought under control Thursday.

At the same time, there was optimism about the blazes in the Trinity Alps, located within the Shasta and Trinity national forests, although it still remained the state’s top trouble spot, where 60,650 acres have burned.

Life began to return to normal there as the smoke pall thinned, the sun shined through for the first time this month and sheriff’s deputies allowed residents to return to homes they evacuated last week.

Four of Trinity County’s nine major fires were declared fully contained Thursday afternoon, and three others were listed as 90% or more contained.

Residents of Trinity Pines, the only Trinity County community evacuated during the entire emergency, were allowed to return to their approximately 200 isolated homes in the southern part of the county.

Firefighters, some from as far away as Alaska, Minnesota and New Mexico, could be seen in the towns buying souvenirs and sightseeing.

In all, fires have burned a total of 856 square miles in Northern and Southern California, drawing the efforts of 14,000 firefighters.

Fires continued in the Mendocino National Forest north of San Francisco and in the Klamath National Forest just south of the Oregon border. But a 127,392-acre fire in the Stanislaus National Forest west of Yosemite National Park was declared 40% contained.

Since Aug. 28, lightning storms have touched off a total of 1,247 fires, most of them concentrated in Central and Northern California. The fires have scorched 549,810 acres, caused 76 injuries and destroyed 98 structures, including 38 homes. Of the fires, 173 are still uncontained.

3 Firefighters Dies

Three firefighters have died in Northern California since the fires started. Two deaths were caused by vehicle accidents that authorities blamed on lack of visibility due to smoke. The third occurred when a tree fell on a crew camp vehicle.

Though improved weather conditions have been helping firefighters over the last few days, fire officials still looked to the sky for help in turning the corner on what has been described as the worst fire season in three decades.

“We still hope that we could get some rain,” Jim Geiger, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry said Thursday.

Firefighters reported greater success in the Mendocino National Forest, where 70,000 acres have burned. The largest fire, which jumped containment lines twice in the last two days, was 100% contained and 80% controlled, Geiger said.

Meanwhile, in the Klamath National Forest, where 130,000 acres have burned, “there are just a lot of fires all over the place,” Geiger said, with no estimated time of containment.

Although air temperatures remained low and the winds were less than 10 m.p.h., Forest Service spokesman Horner said of the Silverado fire: “High humidity for the next day or two will make fighting this fire a very long and tedious process. We could be here well into the weekend.”

Same Arsonist

U.S. Forest Service investigators confirmed Thursday that the Silverado fire and a much smaller, 50-acre blaze, known as the Maple fire, which was brought under control Wednesday night, were both set by the same arsonist. They declined to elaborate.

Authorities said they also suspect arson in the Perris blaze.

David Reyes reported from Orange County and Mark A. Stein from Hayfork, Calif. Also contributing to this article were Steven R. Churm in Riverside and Penelope McMillan in Los Angeles.