Firefighters have the upper hand on a wildfire on the outskirts of Los Angeles that has burned 24,000 acres and they expect to have it fully contained by this evening, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department said. “It looks like we’re at about 40 percent containment”, said Ron Haralson, an inspector with the department. “We’re looking at having it 100 percent contained by 6 p.m. today.”

The so-called Topanga fire started on Wednesday afternoon and spread quickly because of strong and hot wind. Thick smoke hung over much of Los Angeles as a the wildfire burned out of control, threatening upscale suburban neighbourhoods as firefighters struggled to keep the flames from racing to the sea.

Firefighters, assisted by air crews, took advantage of a break from hot Santa Ana winds to defend communities in its path. “We didn’t come to work this morning, we came to war”, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.

Fire officials have been determined since the fire ignited to keep the flames from crossing the Hollywood Freeway, the last real barrier before it reaches the sea near Malibu.

Multimillion-dollar homes

Between the freeway and the Pacific Ocean stood more dry brush and a number of communities, some of them made up of multimillion-dollar homes.

Officials conceded that while the improved weather had slowed the progress of the blaze, some 3,000 firefighters were nowhere close to containing it amid 100-degree F (38-degree Celsius) temperatures at the end of Southern California’s notorious fire season.

Fire crews responded quickly when another brush fire was spotted in the hills near the heavily populated Los Angeles suburb of Burbank. “We are aggressively trying to contain this thing before it starts because of the weather conditions”, Burbank Fire Lt. David Gabriel said.

Hundreds of residents in at least nine communities were ordered to evacuate or chose to leave their homes as flames roared west and north along a 15-mile stretch of ridges and canyons. The cause of the blaze was not known.

“We are guardedly optimistic, if the weather cooperates, if the public cooperates ... that this may end well for us”, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told reporters. He said 2,000 homes and buildings had been saved by the efforts of the firefighters.

About 20 schools in the area were closed on Thursday because fire made the air hard to breathe. Some schools were used as evacuation centers, which housed about 450 people overnight. Officials urged residents to comply with evacuation requests and prepare to leave their homes if necessary on short notice.

Firefighting aircraft dropped water and fire retardants through the night to prevent the fire from reaching more heavily populated areas in the Simi Valley commuter belt, 35 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, and the mountains of Malibu to the west.

One firefighter was injured on Wednesday when he was hit by a falling rock. Cooler weather is helping to slow the fire, which has forced local authorities to issued air quality warnings because of smoke but has largely spared residential areas.

“We have lost two single family dwellings, or two homes, one detached garage and three out buildings, and we have had six injuries to firefighters”, Haralson said. “Those range from serious to minor.” A falling boulder hurt one firefighter, while others have suffered sprained ankles and bee stings.

Dan WHITCOMB