Firefighters will start heading home today from the nearby Summit fire in Big Bear. Cloud cover over Big Bear Lake helped firefighters battling the 100-acre Summit fire once again bring containment to 50 percent. Earlier Tuesday, fire authorities had dropped the containment estimate to 30 percent after reassessing the lines dug around the blaze. The low cloud ceiling kept temperatures and wind down and humidity up, said the U.S. Forest Service. Thanks to the favorable weather—and because the fire hasn’t grown since Sunday night—they said crews will start heading home. The fire’s lack of movement allows firefighters to enter the fire area more safely. It also allowed all evacuation orders to be lifted Monday. The Bear Valley Unified School District announced Tuesday afternoon that all schools will be open and in session today. Since the fire broke out on Sunday, firefighters have been concerned with the steepness of the terrain and the large amount of timber in the mountains south of the lake. “That timber has been there for hundreds of years, holding rocks and things in place,” they said. “When those get burned away, there’s nothing there to hold those rocks. If those roll out, we don’t want to be in the way.” The fire broke out about 12:25 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of two Forest Service roads south of Big Bear Lake, about a mile south of the shore line and a mile west of Snow Summit resort. About 400 homes were evacuated Sunday. The flames crept to within a few hundred feet of houses, but no structures were burned.
