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Evacuations Lifted, Road Closures Updated For Powerhouse Fire

The Powerhouse Fire is now at 60 percent containment, and fire officials remain optimistic that figure could be even higher by day’s end due to “dramatic progress,” fire officials said Tuesday.

Here’s a link to the Google Map of the Powerhouse Fire.


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The blaze, which has torched six homes displaced thousands for several days and torched 32,032 acres, is now being countered by more than 1,000 firefighters in addition to cooler temperatures for the first time in nearly a week. 

There are still road closures in place as a precaution, but officials are hopeful for a higher containment percentage this afternoon.

The fire continued to back down towards indirect lines with occasional flare-ups well inside the containment lines, U.S. Forest Service officials said. Some flanking fire has been observed in the Sawtooth Mountain area.

“We are definitely making a lot of progress out here,” said Inspector Scott Miller of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, from the scene of the blaze.

“We have 60 percent containment and our crews are still going to be out here working,” he added.

While wind gusts approached 30 to 40 mph for the first five days, milder conditions also were helping Tuesday morning.

The fire is still burning to the northwest, according to Forest Service officials.  

“We haven’t seen as strong as winds as we’ve seen the last couple of days, which is giving us help getting the upperhand,” Miller said.

 Part of the issues has been that while fire officials were anticipating an extremely harsh fire season, the dry brush, or “fuel” levels are unseasonably high for this early in the summer, he said.

“It’s really just a lack of rain and moisture out here, combined with it not burning for a long time, either, Miller said. “The fuel bed out there is dry about two months early.”

Despite the dryness, there was optimism between both the Angeles National Forest Service crews and county firefighters, which are still operating a unified command because the fire is still burning in the  forest and unincorporated areas, he said.

There are hard closures still in place on Ridge Route Road at Lake Hughes Road, and on Pine Canyon Road at Three Points community, and Pine Canyon at Lake Hughes Road, according to Matt Corelli of the U.S. Forest Service.

The following roads are under hard closures that are open to residents only — Spunky Canyon Road at Bouquet Canyon Road; San Francisquito Canyon at Dry Gulch; 110th at Avenue K; and Elizabeth Lake at 90th.  

And all roads between Avenue D and Lancaster Road, 190th Street and 170th Street.

However, all evacuations have been lifted, according to Forest Service officials.

“(Incident commanders)  will have a meeting again this afternoon,” Miller said, “and I think you’ll see that (60 percent) number improve.”


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Evacuations Lifted, Road Closures Updated For Powerhouse Fire

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About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.