Big Bear News – Big Bear, CA – The Line Fire is at 43,978 acres and 93% containment with 1154 fire personnel, 59 engines, 15 crews, 9 water tenders, 7 dozers and 7 helicopters.
Evacuation warnings remain in place for the Barton Flats, Pinezanita and Seven Oaks communities. Highway 38 and 18 are open. Highway 330 remains closed from Highland Avenue to Highway 18 as CalTrans performs repairs to the road and guardrails. The closure orders for the San Bernardino National Forest are still in place.
Some smoke will continue to be visible south of Angelus Oaks for a few days as an interior island of fuels is consumed. Crews are working in the area, and there is no concern. Demobilization of some crews and resources will be happening over the next few days. Crews that remain will be working on monitoring, backhauling equipment, suppression repair, as well as direct and indirect line construction.
Yesterday’s gusty winds provided wind testing to Siberian Creek and No Name Creek areas. Containment lines continued to be reinforced. Crews were inserted to continue to improve and reinforce around the interior island. On the fire’s eastern edge, helicopters continued to drop water on interior islands. Temperatures are slowly falling, but remain well above normal for this time of year. Relative humidity values are remaining low during the day with only poor to moderate recoveries at night. Slightly stronger afternoon winds out of the southwest continue, with gusts between 20 and 25 mph.
With the continued dry heat, the fire area is under a Fuels and Fire Behavior Advisory, with low overnight humidity further drying out fuels. The main challenge in these conditions continues to be focused around Angelus Oaks off Highway 38 with additional concerns south of Big Bear near Mile Creek and in the Santa Ana River drainage. Inaccessible areas at the confluence of Bear and Siberia Creeks are susceptible to slope reversals due to the continuing dry, hot weather patterns.
