California wildfires continue to burn, containment in sight

Los Angeles

-- Shelters set up in the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County to take in evacuated animals from the California wildfires already have begun sending animals home.

The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control established three shelters for 300 evacuated horses from the city and county, which are starting to close.

Still, Michelle Roache, deputy director of the county department of animal care and control says the agency remains on standby, even as the fires move away.

"Right now, we're pretty much in containment," she says. "It's moving toward Ventura County."

The city established shelters for evacuated companion animals.

According to a state-run Web site on three fires continue to burn - one in San Diego County and two in Los Angeles County. More than 20,000 acres have been burned in those three areas and the fires are still not out.

Fires in Napa, Ventura, Marion and San Diego counties, which all started within the past week, have been 100 percent contained, according to a state run website. Those fires burned less than 1,000 acres.

Peter Weinstein, executive director of the Southern California Veterinary Medical Association (SCVMA), says his disaster response team will work with the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) if need be, but there has been no call to action so far.

"It hasn' t been anything to the same extent as we had last year," he says. "The fires in LA and Orange County are pretty well contained, but that doesn't mean the next few weeks won't be nightmarish."

"It's going to be a scary season because of it has been warm and dry for an extended period of time."

For now, everyone is in watch mode waiting to see which way the winds will blow, he adds.