More fires to come?
Several firefighters left the San Bernardino National Forest on Wednesday, as crews moved closer to containing the Butler Fire 2 Fire.
However Rocky Opliger, incident commander and assistant chief of fire and aviation operations for the San Bernardino National Forest, told firefighters assembled for Wednesday evening's briefing that the blaze could be followed by additional fires in the coming weeks. "We're just at the beginning of fire season in Southern California. If you're not from Southern California, you probably don't believe that," Opliger said. "Wait for the Santa Ana winds to pick up, and you'll be back."
Last year, the deadly Esperanza Fire caused the deaths of five firefighters in October after an arsonist lit a blaze in Cabazon that was heavily fanned by Santa Ana winds. The massive Old and Grand Prix fires were also October blazes. Those fires raged in 2003.
-Andrew Edwards