Progress made on fire that displaced thousands | News | avpress.com – Antelope Valley Press

REDDING Firefighters were gaining the upper hand Sunday on a forest fire that displaced thousands of people and destroyed more than 100 buildings near Shasta Lake in Northern California.

Lighter winds and cooler temperatures slowed the Fawn Fire as it moves toward the shores of Californias largest man-made lake and away from populated areas north of the city of Redding, allowing crews to increase containment to 35%, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a statement.

The fire at one point threatened 9,000 buildings, but the number dropped to 2,340 on Sunday.

Light rain was in the forecast for Monday. Fire officials said crews will begin taking advantage of the calmer weather to conduct back burns near the lake to expand the control lines, the Record Searchlight reported.

Were going to hold it. Its going to be done this week, Bret Gouvea, chief of CalFires Shasta-Trinity unit, said at a community meeting Saturday night.

Initial assessments found that 131 homes and other buildings had burned, CalFire said. That number was likely to change as teams go street by street surveying the destruction.

Authorities have arrested a 30-year-old woman on suspicion of starting the blaze that erupted Wednesday and grew explosively in hot and gusty weather in the region about 200 miles northeast of San Francisco.

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Progress made on fire that displaced thousands | News | avpress.com - Antelope Valley Press