2 Wildfires Mostly Contained as Winds Abate

Firefighters made big gains Wednesday against two wildfires that blackened swaths of Southern California brush lands and led to two deaths.

“It’s been pretty good today,” said fire spokesman Iral Evans in Riverside County. “It’s been warm, and humidity [has been] low, but the winds died down.”

The two blazes erupted Monday and were rapidly spread by strong Santa Ana winds.

The 24,625-acre Mt. Edna fire was 75% contained Wednesday, Evans said.

The neighboring Taylor fire, covering 2,160 acres, was 90% contained Wednesday.

The Edna fire burned south of Banning and Beaumont but stalled in an area called the Badlands, east of Moreno Valley.

A pilot was killed in the crash of an air tanker and there were five minor injuries among firefighters in the battle against that blaze. The Taylor fire was a few miles to the north, between Beaumont and Calimesa.

In that blaze, one firefighter died of a heart attack, and there were seven minor injuries. A house and a mobile home were destroyed, but the only other damage was to the roof of a house and a shed.

In San Diego County, meanwhile, authorities tallied damage from much smaller but destructive fires. Six homes under construction at Rancho Bernardo and three cars burned Tuesday. Damage to the homes was estimated at $920,000.