Tide Turns in Tough Fight Against Fire : Nature: Aided by drop in temperatures and rise in humidity, weary crews keep perimeter of Willow blaze from expanding.

An army of weary firefighters finally gained the upper hand Friday against a rapacious wildfire that has charred almost 62,000 acres in the mountains and High Desert of San Bernardino County.

“We’re doing really well,” Roger Hoeksma, a fire information officer for the U.S. Forest Service, said Friday afternoon. “An infrared photo taken from the air last night showed a surprising lack of heat in the center of the fire. We’re very optimistic.”

Hoeksma said many of the more than 2,700 firefighters battling the so-called Willow fire awoke Friday to find frost on their tents.

“The temperatures are really down, the humidity is higher and the winds are light,” he said. “All that’s a real plus.”

The blaze, which started a week ago when gusty winds whipped an illegal campfire out of control, raged in all directions for several days, sprawling from the mountain resort areas of San Bernardino National Forest to the isolated ranches of the High Desert in the Apple and Lucerne valleys.

By Friday, the perimeter had stopped expanding, and by late in the day, most of the 70 miles of fire lines had been established to contain the blaze.

“The crews are using hand tools and, where they can, bulldozers to scrape down to bare earth,” Hoeksma said. “More backfires are being set to remove burnable material between the fire and the fire line. The whole idea is to remove the fuel from the fire.”

It was difficult, dirty, dangerous work, but despite the flames and smoke, the rugged terrain and the fatigue of the firefighters--many of whom had been on the lines several days--the work progressed Friday with a minimum of problems.

Given the size of the blaze and the firefighting force, the safety record of the Willow fire was considered excellent. After seven days, there were only nine reported injuries, all minor.

The costs of the fire, though, were still considerable.

Firefighting expenses totaled almost $6.5 million by Friday and continued to climb.

The dollar loss for the charred timber and grazing lands and the value of the dozen burned homes and the more than 50 damaged outbuildings have not been calculated.

Vast recreational resources have been taken from the public--not only for the Labor Day weekend, but in some cases for months to come. A dozen campgrounds were closed indefinitely, and resort owners in the San Bernardino Mountains watched tourist traffic dwindle to a trickle.

The good news is most of the main roads remain open. The Big Bear Chamber of Commerce was still talking bravely about a “great holiday weekend,” but local merchants admitted that the fire--in most cases miles away--was hurting them.

“It’s going to make for a very slow weekend,” said Damon Dennis, manager of the Alpine Sport Center in Big Bear Lake. “Usually we’re very busy by now.”

The only other major wildfire still not officially under control in Southern California on Friday night was the so-called Bridge fire in Angeles National Forest, north of Glendora.

Officials said that with the 7,100-acre blaze 70% contained, full control was a possibility within a few days.

The Bridge fire broke out Sunday near the confluence of the east, north and west forks of the San Gabriel River and spread slowly north through steep terrain. Three cabins and an undetermined number of outbuildings were damaged.

The blaze forced closure of several tourist routes at least through the weekend, including California 39 above Azusa, Glendora Mountain Road and Glendora Ridge Road.