Drumming for rain, by Hill evacuees, for the Hill at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. Photo by Peter Szabadi

Acreage burned: 13,118 Containment: 17 percent Personnel working the fire: 1,319 Engines: 194 Water Tenders: 5 Helicopters: 9 Fixed-wing: 3 Crews: 17 Dozers: 14 Estimated containment date: noon Thursday, Aug. 9 Fire is actively spreading east in Garner Valley outside of the 2013 Mountain Fire footprint. Currently concern is about unburned pockets within the fire’s…

Officials with San Bernardino National Forest announced Friday a forest order creating the Cranston Fire Closure Area. The order temporarily closes all U.S. Forest Service lands within both the San Jacinto Ranger District and Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. The closure is due to hazards presented by the Cranston Fire, as well…

Pamela Jordan, Idyllwild Arts Foundation president and head of school: We are incredibly grateful to the Town Crier for keeping the community informed about important events occurring on our mountain, and especially the coverage you’ve provided in the last several days about the Cranston Fire. We want to provide you with an update about Idyllwild…

Southern California Edison Press Release: As of 9 a.m., SCE has roughly 4,000 customers without service due to the Cranston Fire. An additional 5,200 customers of the Anza Electric Cooperative (fed from SCE’s system) are also without power. SCE will provide updated information once safe access to the area is granted, damage assessments are conducted,…

Town Crier Members and subscribers who have their newspapers mailed off the Hill may not receive the July 26 issue as usual. The Cranston Fire erupted Wednesday before the papers were to be delivered to the Post Office, and it now is closed, as is Highway 243, so delivery trucks cannot get on or off…

Anza Electric:Update: 2 miles of SCE transmission line were damaged during the Cranston Fire yesterday and overnight. It will take an undetermined amount of time to rebuild the structures and before power can be restored to the entire area. We have 4 large generators lined up for this afternoon so that we can bring up…