Wind Forecast Causes Worry in O.C. Fire Battle

As firefighters began turning the corner Thursday in their efforts to stamp out a stubborn blaze that’s consumed thousands of canyon acres in northeastern Orange County, new predictions of hazardous conditions through the weekend raised fresh concerns.

“Our focal point is to put this fire out and get ready for more, because we’re going to have some very bad weather here,” said Richard Hawkins, U.S. Forest Service fire chief for the Cleveland National Forest, referring to National Weather Service predictions of high Santa Ana winds through Saturday night and high temperatures and low humidity through Monday.

“We are maintaining large numbers of firefighters and aircraft in the area,” he said, in case “this fire starts acting up or a new one breaks out.”

By late Thursday, the blaze -- dubbed the Sierra fire after the Santa Ana Mountains peak where it began Monday -- had blackened 9,850 acres and was reported to be 62% contained. Full containment is expected by 6 p.m. Saturday, officials said. The number of firefighters at the scene was reduced from a high of more than 2,000 to about 1,450.

To prevent the fire from rekindling, Hawkins said, firefighters were burning islands of chaparral remaining near the fire line.

Eight firefighters have suffered minor injuries; no structures have been damaged.

Hawkins on Thursday repeated earlier promises that the federal government would foot the bill for the fire should investigators find any negligence on its part. Preliminary reports indicated that the blaze was started by a planned burn by federal firefighters.

Hawkins said combating the blaze had cost about $5.5 million, with the final bill expected at about $9 million.

“The continued bad weather is causing us to spend lots of money we usually wouldn’t have to spend,” he said. “I can’t remember a year this dry.”