Full containment of Holy fire pushed back by several days
Full containment of the 15-day-old Holy fire will be longer than expected because flames have begun burning into remote areas, officials said Tuesday.
“Some of the area that is burning is kind of hard to access and a little harder to get in,” said Kevin Ferris, a U.S. Forest Service public affairs employee.
More than 500 firefighters are battling the blaze, and officials initially anticipated that full containment would occur Tuesday. That estimate has been pushed back to Sunday.
As of Tuesday, the Holy fire, which has been burning in Orange and Riverside counties, had scorched 22,986 acres and was 91% contained, officials said.
Authorities have concluded that the fire was the result of arson.
Meanwhile the Mendocino Complex fire — the largest recorded in California history — continues to burn since it broke out nearly a month ago.
The blaze, made up of the Ranch and River fires, had burned 404,532 acres as of Tuesday. The River fire is 100% contained, according to Cal Fire, but the Ranch fire continues to threaten about 1,000 structures and was 74% contained.
The fire burned through steep terrain overnight after new evacuations were ordered Sunday in Lake, Mendocino, Colusa and Glenn counties.
To the south, more than 600 firefighters were battling a fire that broke out Sunday in the Los Padres National Forest in the Santa Maria area.
As of Tuesday night, the Front fire had burned 936 acres and was 61% contained, according to Inciweb.