Firefighters have nearly put out a major fire, the largest so far this year in California, that sent smoke into the Bay Area for much of the past week.
On Thursday afternoon, crews reported achieving 90% containment on the Mineral Fire, which has burned more than 29,667 acres — an area the size of San Francisco — in the rugged, sparsely populated terrain between King City in Monterey County and Coalinga in Fresno County, about 100 miles south of San Jose.
More than 1,000 firefighters fought the fire at its peak. It started July 13 around the southern end of the Diablo Range, and blackened private ranch lands and federal lands owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
“The progress has been great,” said Stacey Nolan, a Cal Fire spokeswoman. “They continued working through the night, and today are doing mop up. We don’t want to leave the community with any fire or hot spots on the ground.”