Firefighters make headway in containing forest fire near Los Angeles

Aided by cooling weather and rising humidity, firefighters managed to keep a forest fire from reaching Wrightwood, a mountain top city 60 miles (about 96 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, authorities said on Monday, Xinhua reported.
   Bulldozer crews etched out several miles of fire lines on 50- degree slopes southeast of the town, and fire crews lugged hoses more than 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) uphill to protect Wrightwood, the U.S. Forest Service said.
   "The fire laid down tonight (Saturday night), very much so," said U.S. Forest Service fire spokesman Bill Sapp. "There was very little wind, a higher moisture level, and it's cold tonight."
   Wrightwood is a mountain resort nestled in the San Gabriel Mountains on the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county line.
   The so-called Sheep fire has scorched more than 7,500 acres ( about 30,375 hectares) of prime forest land since it broke out Saturday afternoon, the Forest Service said.
   The fire caused the mandatory evacuation of about 6,000 residents at Wrightwood.
   More than 1,000 fire crews from across the Los Angeles basin rushed to the eastern end of the mountain range Sunday to battle the blaze in rugged, forested mountains that last burned 60 or 70 years ago.
   This is the second massive fire to hit the mountain range in the Los Angeles urban area in five weeks. Another fire, the so- called Station fire, has been contained.
   Meteorologist Stan Wasowski at the National Weather Service said the arrival of cold air in a strong low pressure system caused mixing air currents and the unusual wind patterns seen Sunday, offering assistance to firefighters.
   The cause of the fire remained undetermined.