Higher humidity and slightly lower temperatures helped firefighters inch closer to subduing the monstrous fire that has lashed about the San Gabriel Mountains for a week, but they were scrambling late Tuesday in gusty winds to keep it from overrunning Mt. Wilson.
The reprieve from extremely dry weather had fire crews feverishly setting back fires and cutting fire lines throughout the day, raising the blaze's containment to 22% in the evening, up from 5% the night before. Southwest winds largely pushed the fire deeper into the forest.
Evacuation orders were lifted in much of La Canada Flintridge and La Crescenta. But fire officials still worried about the northern flank of the fire, from Agua Dulce to Littlerock, and said the blaze could reemerge as a threat to homes in the foothills of Sierra Madre and points east.
"It's still a very treacherous situation," said U.S. Forest Service Incident Cmdr. Mike Dietrich. "The fire has a lot of potential, and it's still a big animal."
It remained particularly precarious atop Mt. Wilson, home to the historic observatory and a complex of communications towers used by nearly 50 radio and TV stations.
By midafternoon, the fire was making its closest incursion onto the 5,710-foot peak yet, coming from two directions: half a mile to the north and three-quarters of a mile to the west.
"We expect the fire to hit the Mt. Wilson facilities between 5 p.m. today and 2 a.m. Wednesday morning," said Los Angeles County Fire Department Deputy Chief James Powers at his command post at the observatory. "Right now, we're conducting controlled burns around the perimeter in preparation for the impending fire's arrival. We're also bringing in trucks and special equipment to coat all of the structures with protective gel and foam if necessary."
The controlled burns cloaked the mountaintop with acrid smoke. Chain saws roared in all directions. Workers unloaded earthmovers from flatbed trucks.
Fire officials decided Monday morning -- the day after two firefighters were killed near Acton -- to remove crews from the mountain for safety reasons.
They re-strategized Tuesday and decided to send them back, but only if the complex was in imminent danger.
"That time is now," Powers said.
Fire was making runs on the narrow, hairpin road that connects the complex to Angeles Crest Highway, as boulders and rocks fell on the pavement from burned-out hillsides above.
