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Cooler weather in Southern California helps in wildfire battle

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Cooler weather in Southern California helps in wildfire battle
News

News

Cooler weather in Southern California helps in wildfire battle

2024-09-15 05:04 Last Updated At:05:10

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of firefighters aided by cooler weather made progress Saturday against three Southern California wildfires, and officials in northern Nevada were hopeful that almost all evacuees from a blaze there could soon be home.

Authorities have started scaling back evacuations at the largest blaze. The Bridge Fire east of Los Angeles has burned 81 square miles (210 square kilometers), torched at least 33 homes and six cabins and forced the evacuation of 10,000 people. Two firefighters have been injured in the blaze, state fire officials said.

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FILE - Smoke from the Line Fire fills the air Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Running Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

FILE - Smoke from the Line Fire fills the air Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Running Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

The skyline of downtown is obscured by smoke carried into the Rocky Mountain region from wildfires near Los Angeles, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The skyline of downtown is obscured by smoke carried into the Rocky Mountain region from wildfires near Los Angeles, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Chairs are stacked among the ruins in the aftermath of the Bridge Fire, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Chairs are stacked among the ruins in the aftermath of the Bridge Fire, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-damaged forest is shown in the aftermath of the Bridge Fire, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-damaged forest is shown in the aftermath of the Bridge Fire, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-ravaged property is seen after the Bridge Fire swept through, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-ravaged property is seen after the Bridge Fire swept through, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-ravaged property is seen after the Bridge Fire swept through, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-ravaged property is seen after the Bridge Fire swept through, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

FILE - The Line Fire jumps Highway 330 as an emergency vehicle is driven past Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, near Running Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

FILE - The Line Fire jumps Highway 330 as an emergency vehicle is driven past Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, near Running Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

A vehicle and surrounding forest are burned after the Bridge Fire swept through Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A vehicle and surrounding forest are burned after the Bridge Fire swept through Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Operations section chief Don Freguila said Saturday that containment was estimated at 3% and improving, with nearly 2,500 firefighters working the lines. He said Saturday's focus would be on the fire's west flank and northern edge near Wrightwood, where airtankers dropped retardant on the flames in steep, rugged areas inaccessible to ground crews.

“A lot of good work. We're really beating this up and starting to make some good progress,” Freguila said. He said a new spot fire broke out Friday night near the Mount Baldy ski area along the blaze's southern edge, burning only about an acre before crews “buttoned it up."

The Southern California have threatened tens of thousands of homes and other structures since they escalated during a triple-digit heat wave.

The blaze in Nevada near Lake Tahoe broke out last weekend, destroying 14 homes and burning through nearly 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) of timber and brush along the Sierra Nevada’s eastern slope. Some 20,000 people were forced from their homes early this week.

Fire officials said there was a 90% chance the last of the evacuees would be able to return to their homes by the end of Saturday.

Containment of the blaze was estimated at 76% Saturday, fire spokeswoman Celeste Prescott said. Some of the 700 crew members should soon be sent off to other fires, she added.

Firefighters were mostly mopping up but anticipated winds picking up in the afternoon so stood ready to attack any spots that flare up.

“We're on the verge of big success here,” Truckee Meadows Fire District Chief Charles Moore said.

Authorities say a delivery driver purposely started the Line Fire in Southern California on Sept. 5. It has charred 59 square miles (153 square kilometers) in the San Bernardino mountains, where people ski in the winter and mountain bike in the summer.

It was 25% contained as of Saturday. Cool weather over the next several days should help, fire officials said.

It is burning through dense vegetation that grew after two back-to-back wet winters when snowstorms broke tree branches, leaving behind a lot of “dead and down fuel,” Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Jed Gaines said.

Three firefighters have been injured in the fire, according to Cal Fire.

The Big Bear Zoo said it moved all its animals to a zoo in the city of Palm Desert to protect them from the wildfires and escalating temperatures.

Arson-related charges have been filed against Justin Wayne Halstenberg, who is accused of starting the Line Fire. He is due to be arraigned on Monday according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office. Halstenberg's mother, Connie Halstenberg, told the Los Angeles Times that her son “did not light that fire.”

The full extent of the damage caused by the blaze remains unclear, but San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said at least one home was destroyed.

The Airport Fire in Orange and Riverside counties fire has been difficult to tame because of the steep terrain and dry conditions — and because some areas hadn’t burned in decades. Reportedly sparked by workers using heavy equipment, it has burned more than 37 square miles (96 square kilometers). It was 9% contained as of Saturday.

“Although direct lines have been challenging to build due to rugged terrain, favorable weather conditions have supported their efforts,” the Saturday situation report from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Eleven firefighters and two residents have been injured in the blaze, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. It destroyed at least 27 cabins in the Holy Jim Canyon area, authorities said.

Sonner reported from Reno, Nevada. Rodriguez reported from San Francisco. Associated Press reporters Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California, and Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, contributed.

FILE - Smoke from the Line Fire fills the air Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Running Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

FILE - Smoke from the Line Fire fills the air Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Running Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

The skyline of downtown is obscured by smoke carried into the Rocky Mountain region from wildfires near Los Angeles, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The skyline of downtown is obscured by smoke carried into the Rocky Mountain region from wildfires near Los Angeles, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Chairs are stacked among the ruins in the aftermath of the Bridge Fire, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Chairs are stacked among the ruins in the aftermath of the Bridge Fire, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-damaged forest is shown in the aftermath of the Bridge Fire, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-damaged forest is shown in the aftermath of the Bridge Fire, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-ravaged property is seen after the Bridge Fire swept through, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-ravaged property is seen after the Bridge Fire swept through, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-ravaged property is seen after the Bridge Fire swept through, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A fire-ravaged property is seen after the Bridge Fire swept through, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

FILE - The Line Fire jumps Highway 330 as an emergency vehicle is driven past Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, near Running Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

FILE - The Line Fire jumps Highway 330 as an emergency vehicle is driven past Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, near Running Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

A vehicle and surrounding forest are burned after the Bridge Fire swept through Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

A vehicle and surrounding forest are burned after the Bridge Fire swept through Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Wrightwood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Donald Trump began his first day as the 47th president of the United States with a dizzying display of force, signing a blizzard of executive orders that signaled his desire to remake American institutions while also pardoning nearly all of his supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Here's the latest:

He pledged to remove more than 1,000 presidential appointees “who are not aligned with our vision.”

In a post on his TruthSocial platform, Trump dismissed chef and humanitarian Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Ret. Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, former State Dept. official Brian Hook from the board of the Wilson Center, and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council.

“YOUR’E FIRED!” he wrote in a post just after midnight Tuesday.

Milley, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under Trump, received a pardon from former President Joe Biden on Monday over concerns he could be criminally targeted by the new administration. His portrait in the Pentagon was also removed. Hook, who was Trump’s Iran envoy during his first term, had been involved in the Trump administration transition. No reasoning was given for his firing.

Former President Joe Biden also removed many Trump appointees in his first days in office, including former press secretary Sean Spicer from the board overseeing the U.S. Naval Acadamy.

Rep. Elise Stefanik is likely to face questions at her confirmation hearing Tuesday to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations about her lack of foreign policy experience, her strong support for Israel and her views on funding the U.N. and its many agencies.

Harvard-educated and the fourth-ranking member of the U.S. House, she was elected to Congress in 2015 as a moderate Republican and is leaving a decade later as one of President Trump’s most ardent allies.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “looks forward to working again with President Trump on his second term,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday.

When she appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Stefanik is likely to be grilled about her views on the wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere as well as the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs — all issues on the U.N. agenda.

▶ Read more about Elise Stefanik’s confirmation hearing

Scholz said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that “not every press conference in Washington, not every tweet should send us straight into excited, existential debates. That’s also the case after the change of government that took place in Washington yesterday.”

Scholz said the U.S. is Germany’s closest ally outside Europe and he’ll do everything to keep in that way.

He acknowledged that Trump and his administration “will keep the world on tenterhooks in the coming years” in energy, climate, trade and security policy. But he said “we can and will deal with all this, without unnecessary agitation and outrage, but also without false ingratiation or telling people what they want to hear.”

Scholz said of Trump’s “America First” approach that there’s nothing wrong with looking to the interests of one’s own country – “we all do that. But it is also the case that cooperation and agreement with others are mostly also in one’s interest.”

Speaking in the Oval Office Monday, Trump rejected Biden’s warning that the U.S. is becoming an “ oligarchy ” for tech billionaires, saying the executives supported Democrats until they realized Biden “didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.”

“They did desert him,” Trump added. “They were all with him, every one of them, and now they are all with me.”

Despite taking millions from the executives and their companies for his inaugural committee — and receiving more than $200 million in assistance from Musk in his presidential campaign — Trump claimed he didn’t need their money and they wouldn’t be receiving anything in return.

“They’re not going to get anything from me,” Trump said. “I don’t need money, but I do want the nation to do well, and they’re smart people and they create a lot of jobs.”

Some of the most exclusive seats at Trump’s inauguration on Monday were reserved for powerful tech CEOs who also happen to be among the world’s richest men.

That’s a shift from tradition, especially for a president who has characterized himself as a champion of the working class. Seats so close to the president are usually reserved for the president’s family, past presidents and other honored guests.

The mega-rich have long had a prominent role in national politics, and several billionaires helped bankroll the campaign of Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

But the inaugural display highlights the unusually direct role the world’s wealthiest people will likely have in the new administration. In his outgoing address, Biden warned that the U.S. was becoming an oligarchy of tech billionaires wielding dangerous levels of power and influence on the nation.

▶ Read more about the billionaires at Trump’s inauguration

Outside the National Cathedral, just a few hours before the Interfaith Service of Prayer for the Nation, which both President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to attend, the scene before was decidedly quiet.

At the Cathedral only a few dog walkers dotted the sidewalk and the police presence was low.

It was a far cry from yesterday when thousands lined up in downtown D.C. festooned in the red regalia of MAGA nation — or the security and foot traffic from earlier this month for the funeral service of former President Jimmy Carter where Secret Service vehicles could be seen at least a mile from the Cathedral.

The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and vote was decisive, 99-0.

It’s often tradition for the Senate to convene immediately after the ceremonial pomp of the inauguration to begin putting the new president’s team in place, particularly the national security officials.

▶ Read more about Marco Rubio’s confirmation

All the living former presidents were there and the outgoing president amicably greeted his successor, who gave a speech about the country’s bright future and who left to the blare of a brass band.

At first glance, President Donald Trump’ssecond inauguration seemed like a continuation of the country’s nearly 250-year-long tradition of peaceful transfers of power, essential to its democracy. And there was much to celebrate: Trump won a free and fair election last fall, and his supporters hope he will be able to fix problems at the border, end the war in Ukraine and get inflation under control.

Still, on Monday, the warning signs were clear.

Due to frigid temperatures, Trump’s swearing-in was held in the Capitol Rotunda, where rioters seeking to keep him in power the last time roamed during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Trump walked into the space from the hall leading to the building’s west front tunnel, where some of the worst hand-to-hand combat between Trump supporters and police occurred that day.

After giving a speech pledging that “never again” would the government “persecute political opponents,” Trump then gave a second, impromptu address to a crowd of supporters. The president lamented that his inaugural address had been sanitized, said he would shortly pardon the Jan. 6 rioters and fumed at last-minute preemptive pardons issued by outgoing President Joe Biden to the members of the congressional committee that investigated the attack.

▶ Read more about Trump’s Inauguration Day

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, as White House staff secretary Will Scharf watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, as White House staff secretary Will Scharf watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks as first lady Melania Trump listens at the Commander in Chief Ball, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks as first lady Melania Trump listens at the Commander in Chief Ball, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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