Fog Slows 9,400-Acre Blaze : Three-County Fire 60% Contained

A thick layer of fog rolled to the aid of firefighters Friday, helping them get an upper hand on a blaze that has ravaged 9,400 acres of brushland in Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties.

By nightfall, firefighters had contained 60% of the blaze. Full containment was not expected until early Monday, a fire official said.

“It was real slow this morning,” U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Delores Fremter said of the fire. “The fog came in and it didn’t do much. The wind kicked in about noon and the fog lifted and it started to be more active.”

Until Friday, the fire had burned largely unchecked. It was accidently started Wednesday during a military exercise at the Camp Pendleton Marine base in San Diego County. It raced through the remote canyons and hills of southern Orange County before turning northeast and heading into Riverside County.

While belching smoke and ash that has dusted cars and homes in much of Orange County, the fire had not destroyed any structures. The Riverside County town of Rancho Carrillo was briefly threatened Thursday, but the fire stayed away and more than 50 fire engines pulled out.

Bulldozers cut a mile-long, 35-foot-wide fire break around the village Friday, which some residents said they had sought for years.

While the fog turned the flames to smoldering embers, it also grounded six air tankers and four water-dropping helicopters until mid-morning. They were needed to assist the more than 1,000 firefighters manning the lines.

Fremter said that despite quelling the fire on its southern and western flanks, it was driving northeast into the inaccessible San Mateo Canyon Wilderness of Cleveland National Forest. Late Friday it was headed toward the remote Fisherman’s Camp area.