Rim Fire Update: Blaze 30 Percent Contained, Full Containment Expected Sept. 10

Fire-fighting crews continued to battle the Rim Fire in California, steadily slowing the blaze's expansion enough for officials to declare they expect to have the fire fully contained by Sept. 10.

Though the Rim Fire expanded to 192,737 acres since Wednesday, the blaze only grew about 5,200 acres in 24 hours, a marked slowdown for a wildfire that burned through 50,000 acres in one day last week and an additional 30,000 in another.

Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant told the Los Angeles Times that cooler weather, higher relative humidity and calmer winds have aided firefighters in taming the blaze. The Rim Fire is now 30 percent contained after burning through huge swaths of the Stanislaus National Forest and about 40,000 acres in Yosemite National Park.

"That's given us a greater opportunity to get in there and strengthen our containment lines," he told the Times before estimating that the fire would be contained within two weeks.

At least 111 structures have burned in the fire, which ignited Aug. 17 due to unknown causes. Cal Fire reports there to be 4,500 residences and about 1,000 outbuildings still at risk from the flames.

Nearly 5,000 fire-fighting personnel have been enlisted to fight the Rim Fire.

In an attempt to further slow the blaze, firefighters are setting fire to vegetation in the path of the oncoming flames in order to burn up the fire's fuel. Crews are relying heavily on helicopters and airplanes to help fight the blaze on difficult terrain.

Wednesday an unmanned aerial drone was deployed to give fire commanders real-time imagery and a bird's-eye view of the blaze, the Times reported.