Madre fire near Azusa: Containment reaches 90% despite winds

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A DC-10 drops retardant on the Madre fire in the Angeles National Forest near Azusa. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A Super Scooper makes a water drop on the Madre fire in the Angeles National Forest near Azusa. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A Los Angeles County firefighter monitors the brush fire on the hills of the San Gabriel Canyon area above Azusa, (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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A helicopter monitors the brush fire on the hills of the San Gabriel Canyon area above Azusa. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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A U.S. Forest Service firefighter at the flood control basin watching the brush fire on the hills of the San Gabriel Canyon. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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A U.S. Forest Service firefighter pulls on a hose. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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A helicopter drops water during a brush fire in San Gabriel Canyon above Azusa. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / For The Times)

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A brush fire burns along ridge lines near San Gabriel Canyon Road in Azusa. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Brush fire sends a plume of smoke into the sky. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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People watch as a smoke plume from a brush fire rises in San Gabriel Canyon above Azusa. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / For The Los Angeles Times)

By Ari Bloomekatz and Jason Wells

Sept. 25, 2013 2:32 PM PT

Despite the difficulty posed by a pickup in winds, crews fighting the Madre fire near Azusa were able to reach 90% containment Wednesday afternoon.

The U.S. Forest Service reported that 400 fire personnel had been able to make significant progress on containing the 268-acre blaze shortly after 1:30 p.m., even as the National Weather Service issued a high-wind warning for the region through Thursday morning.

Winds of 25 to 35 mph were forecast for the area’s mountain ranges until 8 a.m. Thursday, with gusts of up to 55 mph, the weather service said.

The winds -- which can carry sparks and embers a significant distance -- “will not help out at all,” said U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Bob Brady.

Still, crews were able to bump containment of the fire, which began Monday in San Gabriel Canyon, from 72% to 90% in just a few hours Wednesday.

Three firefighters were injured battling the blaze, but the issues were minor, the U.S. Forest Service said, and the firefighters are back on the front lines. At one point, there were 522 firefighters assigned to the blaze.

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