UPDATE: Fire officials announced Thursday morning the Pilot Fire is 70 percent contained and the blaze has consumed 7,899 acres — more than 12 square miles — in the San Bernardino Mountains and Summit Valley.
HESPERIA — Firefighters took advantage of the weather to increase containment of the massive Pilot Fire near Hesperia and Lake Arrowhead to 64 percent, authorities said Wednesday.
San Bernardino County Fire Department officials said “significant” overnight progress on containment lines resulted in the substantial progress compared to Tuesday when just 6 percent containment had been reached.
Still, officials said the blaze has consumed 7,861 acres — more than 12 square miles — in the San Bernardino Mountains and Summit Valley.
“These guys and girls really busted their butts overnight and really built some containment lines,” Spokesperson for Southern California Incident Management Team 3 Eric Sherwin said. "Looking at the ops map, we knew that we made good progress last night with the decrease in fire activity, which allowed our crews to get in there and really start building this containment line. But 64 percent containment just shows how eager the firefighters were to get in there as soon as the fire activity allowed them to make the progress that we have been anticipating for the last four days.”
Sherwin said there was currently 1,662 firefighters battling the Pilot Fire. The firefighters focused Wednesday on reinforcing and extending containment lines, especially near the Deer Lodge Park area near Lake Arrowhead, which is under mandatory evacuation orders.
“Fire activity in southeastern Hesperia has decreased significantly," he said. "We made good progress with the line construction out there in the Summit Valley and we will be working in that area as well.”
However, residents should expect to see active burning continuing on the interior of the fire, which will produce significant amounts of smoke across the Victor Valley, according to Sherwin.
More than 4,700 homes are under either voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders in the mountain communities. In Hesperia, about 500 homes east of Santa Fe and south of Ranchero Road remain under voluntary evacuation notice.
"Incident Command recognizes the impacts to residents that are created by these evacuations and road closures and are constantly evaluating these areas based on the activity of the fire and the threat to the communities," Sherwin said.
Heat, rough terrain and unpredictable winds continue to hamper the firefighting efforts. Temperatures are expected to rise in the next few days, with 100-degree plus highs expected this weekend. Sherwin said crews expect significant winds on the fire overnight and low humidity.
According to Sherwin, crews have opened up a second fire camp in the mountains near Lake Gregory.
“This is being done for logistical reasons and to prevent firefighters to make the hour commute from the base to Victorville,” Sherwin said. “We will see a significant increase in number of personnel and vehicles in the area."
Schools in Hesperia, Apple Valley and Oro Grande were closed for a second straight day because of concern over the poor air quality in the Victor Valley, but all three school districts said Wednesday afternoon they planned to reopen classrooms on Thursday.
The Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District issued an air quality warning because of smoke on Sunday and it remains in effect.