by Mick Rhodes | editor@claremont-courier.com

The Vista Fire is 79% contained and essentially out after burning 2,936 acres, though some 396 fire personnel remain in the area cleaning up and rehabbing the landscape, fire officials reported Thursday.

“The fire is pretty much out,” said U.S. Forest Service Spokesperson Nathan Judy. “We’re now doing a lot of mop up and suppression repair. We have our burned area emergency response team in there now to see if any habitats need to be rehabbed. They’ll put brush on top of burned areas or rocks so when the rains come they don’t erode everything off the hillside.”

The scars from the Vista Fire are visible in this image taken from 7,822 feet on Tuesday just above the Top of the Notch at Mt. Baldy looking north toward the high desert. The Devil’s Backbone trail fire break, about 100 yards from the Top of the Notch, helped to hold off the blaze, which began burning July 7. Courier photo/Peter Weinberger

At its peak more than 700 firefighting personal were battling the Vista Fire. On Thursday, more than 300 of them were en route to Oregon to fight several fires burning there.

The U.S. Forest Service has 30 incident command teams spread across the country, including 10 in California. Twenty-four of the teams are currently battling blazes, Judy said. Judy is part of team five, and has been assisting team 15, which had been working on the Vista Fire, since July 7. Team 15 is now headed to Oregon.

The Mt. Baldy and Lytle Creek recreation areas will remain closed at least until the fire is fully contained, Judy said.

With work on the Vista Fire nearly wrapped up, Judy was readying for his new assignment in Oregon. We asked him what he wanted folks to know about navigating Southern California’s ongoing fire season.

“It’s really important that people be really careful with fire,” Judy said. “The last thing we need is another fire to start with all these teams out there.”

Visit the federal incident information management system website, inciweb.wildfire.gov, for info on fires across the country, including the Vista Fire. The San Bernardino National Forest Facebook page at facebook.com/sanbernardinonf is another valuable resource.