Two Northern California Fires Fully Contained

Two raging Northern California fires, including one that scorched more than 3,000 acres along the scenic Big Sur coastline, were declared fully contained late Saturday and a Riverside County blaze that torched more than 1,000 acres was brought under control, fire officials said.

More than 2,000 firefighters were still battling the timber-fed blazes in Northern California on Saturday, one in Lassen National Forest 18 miles northwest of Susanville and the week-old Big Sur fire still raging near the Ventana wilderness area.

But state forestry officials said they encircled the two fires shortly before sundown and expected to bring them safely under control as early as tonight. “We don’t expect them to escape,” one official said.

The Lassen fire erupted shortly before 1 p.m Friday, after being accidentally started by a woodcutter, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Bernice Rummel said. By Saturday morning, the blaze had burned 400 acres, but light winds and gentle terrain helped firefighters win 50% containment by noon.

More than 500 firefighters battled the Lassen blaze, which burned just north of California 44.

Meanwhile, a 1,140-acre fire burning in foothills in Riverside County was brought under control. The blaze, on state land four miles east of San Jacinto, that was sparked by tractor exhaust Friday, consumed a two-story house and two mobile homes and forced about 250 homeowners and campers to evacuate. More than 1,000 firefighters were on the lines. Three suffered heat exhaustion and two were slightly hurt in falls.

State and federal firefighters, assisted by firefighters from Los Angeles and Riverside counties, used five air tankers, two helicopters, 51 engines, 10 bulldozers and 36 hand crews to battle the blaze.

In Big Sur, crews battled three flare-ups Friday and gradually began choking off the arson blaze, which has raced across the steep, brush-laden terrain since July 8. The flare-ups delayed some of the 1,560 firefighters on hand from finishing three miles of containment line along the blaze’s northern flank near Molera State Park, according to forestry officials.

“We’re very, very tired,” said Ted Bishop, a fire captain with the forestry department. “We finally are beginning to get this fire under hand, but it’s been a tough battle.”

One firefighter, a prison inmate, was killed earlier in the week when a tree fell on him, and several others have been injured.

Gov. George Deukmejian has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person believed to have started the fire last week. On Friday the governor also approved an extra $4.9 million for the forestry department because of the extreme drought conditions throughout the state.