Rough fire containment jumps to 67 percent

Containment of the Rough fire east of Fresno jumped to 67 percent Wednesday, as cooler temperatures and higher humidity moderated the spread of the flames, officials said.

At 140,760 acres, the Rough fire remains the largest active fire in California, and the largest fire in Fresno County recorded history.

On Tuesday night, fire officials reported the blaze was 49 percent contained.

The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday lifted mandatory evacuation orders for all residences north of Highway 180 between Dunlap Road and Highway 245. A closure remained in effect for Highway 180 at Highway 245. Millwood Road north of Highway 180 remained closed.

Kings Canyon Unified School District deputy superintendent John Campbell said Dunlap K-8 School would reopen Thursday after a four-day closure during the evacuations. Custodians and support staff were readying the school on Wednesday, he added.

Dunlap students have been bused to Al Conner Elementary in Orange Cove or Jefferson Elementary in Reedley since Friday. Campbell said school attendance was at 85 percent this week – just a little below normal.

Because of a shift of wind, smoke that had covered skies to the west of the fire was clearing, a fire spokesman reported.

John Nichols, a Rough fire information officer, said that even with temperatures expected to climb back into the 90s by the weekend, officials believed they had largely isolated potential trouble areas on the fire.

“We should be in pretty good shape,” Nichols said. “If we don’t get hit with a lot of high winds and such, we should be able to make good progress.”

Earlier this week, rain and cooler temperatures slowed the fire’s spread. But fire officials said the rain wasn’t heavy enough to soak fine, dead fuels sheltered from the rain.

More than 3,700 firefighters are assigned to the blaze, which was started by lightning on July 31. The fire has burned portions of Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia and Sierra national forests.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 10:21 AM with the headline "Rough fire containment jumps to 67 percent."