Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, California)
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Firefighters continued battling the 2,500-acre Pinnacles Fire overnight and into this morning as the flames slowed their spread into the San Bernardino National Forest north of Lake Arrowhead.
U.S. Forest Service officials said firefighters planned to continue an aggressive attack on the blaze from helicopters and other aircraft at 7 a.m. The fire was 10 percent contained and full containment is expected by around 6 p.m. Saturday.
Though temperatures were forecasted to be a mild 74 degrees and humidity at 20 percent today, some residents called with some concerns about weather that hit the area overnight Tuesday, said Daniel McCarthy, U.S. Forest Service spokesman.
“We’ve heard from some residents that it has been gusty from Hesperia to Big Bear, but I have no information if that’s affected our ability to get a line around the fire,” he said.
Voluntary evacuations remained in effect for the Highlands and the Marianas, located east of the Mojave River and north of the San Bernardino National Forest near Apple Valley.
The Pinnacles Fire, named after the Pinnacles Staging Area for off-roading recreation, started about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday northwest of Grass Valley Road and west of Highway 173. It crept into the burn area of the Willow Fire, which charred about 60,000 acres in 1999, officials said.
Five hundred firefighters battled the blaze overnight in an attempt to keep the fire from spreading north into Apple Valley and Hesperia.
There was no estimate on when the fire would be fully contained. The cause of the fire was under investigation.