The wildfire that began raging near Banning, Calif. last week is almost under control, though it caused its fair share of damage, destroying over two dozen residences, one commercial building, 21 outbuildings, and harming several other structures.
According to the most recent update from Cal Fire, the Silver Fire is estimated at 20,292 acres and is not expected to increase any more in size. The blaze is at 95 percent containment as of Monday.
While local evacuations have been lifted, the Silent Valley RV Club remains closed. The Pacific Crest, Marion Mountain and Seven Pines hiking trails are also still closed. Additionally, the Marion Mountain, Fern Basin, Dark Canyon Black Mountain and Boulder Basin campgrounds remain closed until further notice.
Highway 243 is still closed between Banning and Poppet Flats.
Despite firefighters' efforts improving and closing containment lines over the weekend, fire officials are urging fire personnel to use extreme caution as fire suppression, repair assessment and mitigation continue.
Large scale demobilization of incident resources is in progress, though 1,434 firefighters remain on-scene. Authorities are utilizing 62 fire engines, 59 fire crews, nine helicopters, five dozers and 10 water tenders.
The estimated cost to date of fighting the fire is over $9 million.
Forty-eight structures were destroyed by the Silver Fire including 26 homes, one commercial building and 21 outbuildings. Eight structures were damaged, including two homes and six outbuildings.
Twelve injuries have been reported due to the fire thus far, including 11 firefighters, and one civilian who was burned "head to toe" and had to be airlifted to a nearby burn center. Specific information about the nature of the injuries has not been released.
Officials say that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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