Tropical Storm Kay delivered exactly what firefighters battling the Fairview Fire needed: steady rain.
Containment of the 28,307-acre brush fire was listed at 45% Sunday evening and full containment is now expected by Monday, incident commanders said in a statement.
“We had no growth last night with the fire, which was great,” Cal Fire spokesperson Richard Cordova told KTLA. “Luckily, the (storm) system came over us. We had nice, steady rain which didn’t allow any flooding, and it helped firefighters create more containment lines.”
Despite the added containment, more than 2,400 structures are still considered threatened, but many evacuation orders were downgraded to simply warnings Saturday afternoon, and some warnings were lifted.
For a map of evacuation warnings and orders, click here.
More than 2,000 firefighters continue to battle the fire, which broke out Monday on the outskirts of Hemet. Two people died trying to escape the flames, 30 structures have been destroyed and five others were damaged.
The names of the victims have not been released.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.