U.S. Forest Service officials, on Friday, asked the public for help in identifying the source of the Blue Cut wildfire.
Officials said the cause of the Blue Cut wildfire was still under investigation, but requested public assistance in identifying the cause.
Anyone who saw suspicious activity around southbound Interstate 15 between Cleghorn and Kenwood Roads or on Old Cajon Boulevard in the same area between 10 and 11 a.m. Tuesday is asked to report it.
All calls can remain confidential, forest service officials said. They asked anyone with information to call 1-800-782-7463 or visit www.wetip.com.
The destructive fire has wiped out 105 homes and 216 outbuildings since it broke out Tuesday in the San Bernardino Mountains west of I-15.
Three other homes were severely damaged and numerous vehicles, including RVs, have also been destroyed by the blaze that has scorched 37,020 acres and, at its height, forced up to 82,650 people from their homes in and around the Cajon Pass, San Bernardino County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said Friday morning.
By Friday night, officials said, many of the more than 82,000 people who were forced to evacuate have since returned to their homes. About 7,000 civilians, however, still remain evacuated.
Firefighters made substantial progress in battling the fire with the blaze 40 percent contained by Friday night versus the 4 percent containment Thursday morning. It continued burning in remote, sparsely populated mountain and canyon areas full of extremely dry brush. Highway 138 has also been reopened east of I-15.
In the communities of Wrightwood, Lytle Creek and West Cajon Valley, 34,500 structures were threatened initially.
By Friday night, however, authorities reduced that number to 3,198.
“This has been a tough couple of weeks for the people of San Bernardino County,” Hartwig said, pointing to last week’s Pilot fire and the Blue Cut fire, which more than 1,500 firefighters are battling.
Friday’s morning news conference was held as the county opened a “one-stop-shop” assistance center at the fairgrounds in Victorville.
Evacuees who had been staying at Sultana High School in Hesperia were moved to the fairgrounds, where about 600 animals were also being cared for.
About 34,500 structures remain threatened, especially in the communities of Wrightwood, Lytle Creek and West Cajon Valley.
The center provides fire victims all the resources and agencies they may need, including insurance, property records, medical and behavioral health practitioners, housing, the Red Cross and utility companies DMV and other state, local and federal agencies.
“The assistance center is to make it as easy as possible to get the help (people) need,” said James Ramos, chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.
The community has seen businesses and citizens come together making donations and helping victims in any way they can, county Supervisor Robert Lovingwood said. “It has been amazing to watch the outpouring of care,” he said.
Officials did not know how many people would come through the center initially, but said the center would be available as long as necessary.
Among the people who evacuated the fire area were Anita and Bill Foster, a Wrightwood couple whose bags rested near their cots in the mostly-empty Sultana High School gym Thursday night.
“When we left home, we didn’t have more than the shirts on our backs,” Bill Foster said. “It was a little scary; we’ve never had to evacuate before.”
Anita Foster said she was in Victorville when the fire started and immediately called Bill, who was at home.
“I was watching the news and they weren’t giving a lot of information,” Bill said. “Then it went from ‘Oh, there’s a bad fire’ to ‘Oh, we have to evacuate’ with almost no warning at all.
“We deal with fires every year. It’s part of living up there,” Bill said. “I’ve never seen a fire like this one. The day of the evacuation was so surreal. You could see the whole neighborhood packing up. And as it got toward evening, everyone started getting more panicky.
“There’s a fear factor that if you wait too long, you’re not going to be able to get out,” Bill Foster said, describing how he saw his neighbors and others frantically packing, breaking up their families into two cars, trying to set rally points.
The Fosters came to the high school after dropping their cats off at the Apple Valley Animal Shelter. Anita Foster, who teaches fourth and fifth grades at an elementary school in Victorville, said she had to go to work Thursday before the first day of school on Friday. However, the Fosters only have the clothes on their backs.
While not everyone evacuated Wrightwood as requested, the Fosters didn’t want to take the risk.
“I’m not one of the diehards. You tell me to go, I will go,” Anita Foster said.
“The fire always seems to go around the town. If the fire ever reached town, we have lots of trees, it would blow right through.”
Meanwhile, officials did lift one key evacuation order for the town of Phelan which is off Highway 138 north of Wrightwood.
The U.S. Forest Service has reported that this year’s destructive fire season has burned nearly 200,000 acres of National Forest lands in California. The year-end total for 2015 was 537,000 acres, officials said.
The Blue Cut Fire was among six major wildfires burning across drought-stricken California on Friday.
Source: The Desert Sun
Reporter Corinne Kennedy contributed to this report.
