Updated August 10, 10 a.m.
Many evacuation warnings for the 32,905-acre Apple fire were canceled with the blaze now mostly in the San Gorgonio Wilderness and containment at 45 percent on Monday morning. All evacuation warnings in Riverside County were lifted Sunday along with evacuation warnings for the San Bernardino County communities of Forest Falls, Rimrock and Pioneertown. The warnings continued for the entire Morongo Valley, including both sides of Highway 62. The warnings are issued when authorities want an area to be alert, but no mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders have been issued.
“Fire managers will now shift focus from protecting communities to working on preventing the fire footprint from growing,” fire incident commanders said in a Sunday afternoon statement. “As progress continues on fire containment lines, resources that are no longer needed will be released from the incident over the next several days,” the statement said.
Crews on the southern and western flanks of the fire, in the general area of Riverside County’s Cherry Valley where the blaze started on July 31, will be reduced, but enough will remain on hand to protect the area.
The reduction of crews is under way. There were 2,229 fire personnel assigned to the Apple fire on Sunday night, down from 2,721 Saturday night. Four homes and eight other structures were destroyed in the fire, and one firefighter was injured.
