Avalon, Calif. – Cooler weather aided firefighters Saturday as they battled to surround a 4,200-acre wildfire in the rugged, unpopulated interior of Santa Catalina Island, while the resort’s main town returned to life as the blaze’s threat eased.
The fire, less than two-thirds contained, was expected to be encircled by Tuesday evening, Los Angeles County fire Capt. Andrew Olvera said. One home and six businesses burned Thursday, but no one was seriously hurt.
Nearly 4,000 evacuated residents had started returning to the island, where damage was estimated at $2.1 million.
Fog and highs in the 60s diminished the threat of the fire spreading. It was isolated in the backcountry of the 76- square-mile island, more than 20 miles off the Southern California coast.
“Conditions are definitely in our favor. The humidity is up; the wind and temperature are down,” Olvera said.
Elsewhere, smoke from a mammoth wildfire in the Southeast closed sections of two highways Saturday. Crews were battling a wildfire in Georgia and Florida that burned 212,000 acres – more than 330 square miles – since lightning ignited it a week ago.
Florida officials closed a 35-mile stretch of Interstate 75 from the Georgia-Florida state line to Lake City, Fla., as well as a 40-mile stretch of Interstate 10 Saturday because of near-zero visibility from smoke.
Near the Canadian border, some evacuation orders were lifted in northeastern Minnesota, where a wilderness wildfire had blackened about 85 square miles of forest. However, an evacuation order was expanded across the border in Canada because of shifting wind.
Dozens of houses and cabins have burned.
