A week after they were forced from their homes by the Robbers Fire, residents of the Brushy Creek and Yankee Jims areas will be allowed to return to their residences.
Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said evacuees will be allowed back into these areas beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Homes in these areas, he said, account for a majority of the 170 residences that had been threatened by the fire
The cooler weather has allowed firefighters to make progress in corralling a stubborn Placer County wildland blaze.
The Robbers fire, which started July 11, was 60 percent contained as of late this afternoon, Berlant said.
Total acreage burned is 2,650 acres. The onset of cooler weather, higher humidity and lack of major wind has helped firefighters.
Mild temperatures make it easier on crews to cut fire lines and extinguish embers. High humidity and cooler temperatures also help keep fires from raging.
About 2,000 firefighters continue to work on containment. Officials said continuing favorable weather is helping firefighters strenthen and hold fire lines. They said unburned areas of brush within the containment lines may continue to periodically burn.
Also, on the northern portion of the fire, toward Iowa Hill, there is much work to be done to contain the fire, Berlant said.
"In that area the canyons are incredibly steep," he said. "To get bulldozers in there in some areas is not even possible. To get crews in there is even harder."
In addition to crews hiking into those rugged areas, helicopters today will dump water on hotspots. If the fire starts to pick up, two air tankers are based at Grass Valley to assist.
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