Rain calms Calif. wildfire that jumped interstate

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

A fast-moving wildfire that swept across a packed California interstate, sending people running for their lives, was burning more calmly Saturday as rain fell and temperatures dropped.

The fire had burned over Interstate 15 on Friday in Cajon Pass, a mountainous area 55 miles northeast of Los Angeles. It destroyed 20 vehicles on the freeway linking Southern California and Las Vegas before burning three homes and 44 more vehicles in the nearby community of Baldy Mesa.

The size of the fire remained steady Saturday at 5.5 square miles and it was 5 percent contained.

“Things look so much better,” Bob Poole, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman, said as he looked across the charred landscape dotted with a half-dozen small plumes of smoke.

Poole said winds that were gusting to 30 mph caused some flare-ups within the perimeter of the fire, “but nothing that’s giving us too much concern.”