After cooler, wetter weather helped contain blazes, heat to return to SoCal

As cooler, wetter weather helps southern and central California fire crews contain a handful of blazes burning in the region, the National Weather Service warns it likely won't last.

- By Noau HAGGERTY

ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times SLIPPERY SLOPE Ever Aguilar, from Ontario, cools off while splashing down an Orange County Fair water slide on Friday.

Starting Monday, the weather service expects another week of hot and dry weather favorable for abnormally elevated fire behavior and growth in inland areas. “Sundowner winds” — warm and dry gusts that typically blow from the deserts out to sea during the evening could further fuel any fire ignitions along the I-5 corridor.

It comes just days after a lengthy heat wave powered multiple fast-growing fires, including the 132,000-acre Gifford fire in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, and the King and Hawk fires in L.A. County.