Southern California blaze dying down

Cooler temperatures and higher humidity are helping firefighters control the Saddleridge fire in Southern California. The blaze has burned more than 7,900 acres, destroyed or damaged 40 buildings, and was 42 percent contained as of Sunday evening, the Los Angeles Fire Department tweeted. Authorities lifted all evacuation orders on Sunday night. So far, three people have died fire-related deaths.

Did planned power outages help prevent fires? Officials are investigating the cause of the fire. Southern California Edison told the Los Angeles Times it had not shut off any lines in the area of the blaze and it was too early to know what caused it. As of Monday, wildfires had burned only about 5 percent of the acreage destroyed by the same date during last year’s fire season and about 13 percent of the average of the past five years.

Dig deeper: Read Julie Borg’s report in Beginnings after last year’s Camp Fire about the relationship between climate change and wildfires.