LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firefighters battling a week-old wildfire raging in the mountains near Los Angeles got their first big break on Tuesday from higher humidity and cooler temperatures that helped them push towering flames away from threatened homes. More than 121,000 acres, or 190 square miles, have burned above the heavily populated foothills 15 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Some 6,300 homes are under evacuation orders and two firefighters have died. But the fire’s growth has slowed and fire commander Mike Dietrich said at daybreak on Tuesday he was “a lot more optimistic.” “We are still at 5 percent containment. However, with firefighting activity that occurred last night and the last several days, I expect that will increase substantially today,” Dietrich said. National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mehle, who is assigned to the fire, said the change in weather was due mostly to wind patterns pulling in more damp air from northern Mexico and the Baja region– a phenomenon called monsoonal moisture. He said there may be an indirect benefit, too, from extra moisture spun off from Hurricane Jimena, a Category 4 storm that drenched the tip of the Baja Peninsula on Tuesday. Potential downsides of the weather change, which arrived sooner than previously forecast, were the likelihood of gusty winds that had been largely absent since the fire began and the possibility of dry lightning strikes that could ignite new blazes in dense brush that has not burned in decades. Fifty-three structures have been lost out of the 12,000 at risk in the area. Mount Wilson, a hub of broadcasting towers and telecommunications, as well as home to an historic observatory, was still very much threatened, Dietrich said. Two firefighters were killed on Sunday when their position was overrun by flames and their vehicle plunged 800 feet down an embankment. Several other firefighters suffered minor injuries trying to rescue them, authorities said. At least three civilians also have been injured, two of them badly burned when they were trapped by advancing flames after disregarding evacuation orders.
EVACUATIONS CONTINUE
Police continued to evacuate neighborhoods in the upper reaches of the foothills on Tuesday, although firefighters were able to conduct controlled burns overnight to push flames back into the San Gabriel Mountains of the Angeles National Forest. More than 3,600 firefighters battled the blaze with help from water- and retardant-dropping aircraft. Despite progress in controlling the fire, Dietrich said the crews working in 100-degree Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) heat “are fighting for every foot.” So far, the cost to battle the so-called Station Fire has risen to nearly $14 million, a worrisome figure for a state battling with a ballooning deficit due to the poor economy. This fire also comes before the most difficult months for wildfires in California, from September to November, when fierce winds increase the danger of big fires. The cause of the Station Fire, the biggest of several wildfires burning throughout the state, remains under investigation.
MOSCOW(AFP) (AFP) – Russian and US leaders 
