El Dorado fire evacuations and restrictions were lifted Sunday for Yucaipa, Oak Glen and Mentone, a week and a day after the 14,283-acre wildfire investigators said was started by a smoke bomb at a gender-reveal photo shoot burned four homes and forced about 20,000 people to flee under orders.
The evacuations were lifted at 7 a.m. Along with Saturday’s re-opening of Oak Glen Road, some of the apple-picking farms in the Oak Glen area have re-opened, as well as the Oak Glen Preserve and Southern California Montane Botanic Garden.
The El Dorado fire’s start on Labor Day weekend wrecked the traditional start of apple and raspberry picking season for the farms, restaurants and shops in Oak Glen.
Still under evacuation orders and restrictions Sunday morning were Mountain Home Village, Forest Falls, Angelus Oaks and Seven Oaks. Highway 38 remained closed from Bryant Street to Onyx Summit.
In Oak Glen, Riley’s at Los Rios Rancho and Mom’s Country Orchards opened Saturday and Parrish Pioneer Ranch was back in business Sunday. Snowline Orchard and Winery said in its Facebook posting it would open again for business on Monday.
“The hurdles and challenges this year have been just plain hard, but the outpouring of love, encouragement, prayers, and support have been nothing short of amazing!,” Snowline’s Facebook posting said.
It would be best to check first with a business in Oak Glen to see when it will resume.
The fire was 44% contained Sunday night, up from 41% Saturday night. Fire authorities urged residents in the fire to remain cautious after the partial lift of evacuations.
The fire was described Sunday night as having almost no growth since Saturday night, with crews working to secure the fire’s perimeter, including extending containment lines along Mill Creek from Vivian Creek to the Apple fire scar.
Bulldozer lines have been made south of Angelus Oaks along Highway 38 to protect that community, and crews worked to build a line in the Skinner Creek area above the highway. Crews were in place to defend homes in Forest Falls as the fire moved slowly down slope above the town, firefighters said.
Containment is when firefighters create and hold a fire break around the perimeter of a wildfire.
#ElDoradoFire Update 09/13/2020
Incident Management Team 11 Daniel Diaz of the Operations Section giving a recap on fire activity on the El Dorado Fire.https://t.co/rg4q8k6g1D
— San Bernardino National Forest (@SanBernardinoNF) September 13, 2020
More than 1,400 firefighting personnel were at the blaze.
The San Bernardino National Forest remained closed Sunday.
Ten injuries were reported Sunday, up from five reported on previous days. Cal Fire spokeswoman Cathey Mattingly said Sunday afternoon no details were available about the injuries.
In addition to four destroyed homes, the fire that started the morning of Sept. 5 in Yucaipa’s El Dorado Ranch Park damaged two others. Six other structures that were not dwellings were also burned and four were damaged.
