Firefighters got a break Wednesday as cooler air and lighter winds helped halt the advance of two blazes that torched 25,585 acres of Southwest County this week.

Sunny, blue skies that had been clouded by smoke for the past couple days returned to normal as firefighters used shovels and bulldozers to mop up the charred earth.

By Wednesday, 3,173 firefighters from departments all over California had been dispatched to the Eagle and Cerrito fires.

The two were the largest of four fires that, in all, burned more than 28,000 acres of Southwest County and Camp Pendleton since Sunday and destroyed more than a dozen houses as well as sheds, vehicles and the Dorland Mountain Artist Colony.

The Eagle fire blazed through 8,945 acres and destroyed 14 residences, 27 outbuildings and left five firefighters with minor injuries. The cost to the state for fighting the fire was billed at $2,200,086, said Capt. Jason Neuman, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

No flames or smoke were seen at the Eagle fire Wednesday, which fire officials estimated was 70 percent contained, meaning surrounded by at least six feet of cleared dirt. Total containment is expected by 6 p.m. Thursday and crews are expected to have control, which means extinguished by 6 p.m. Friday.

"Crews were working on just containing the lines," said Capt. Steve Diaz, another CDF spokesman. "We're making sure everything is possibly out."

The Eagle fire burned more than 1,095 acres of the 5,500-acre Pechanga Indian Reservation, according to a written statement from tribal chairman Mark Macarro. No homes were lost and the flames were halted within the reservation early Tuesday.

More than 400 rooms at the Pechanga Resort & Casino were used by firefighters from various agencies, he added.

"We are grateful for the efforts of the Pechanga Fire Department and all of the agencies involved in this incident," Macarro said.

The Cerrito fire scorched 16,460 acres of rolling hills south of Lake Mathews and north of Lake Elsinore and was halted just yards away from the small community of Good Hope. Approximately 65 percent of the fire was contained and crews were expected to fully contain the blaze by 6 a.m. Friday, said Capt. Julie Hutchinson, CDF spokeswoman.

Hutchinson said at least one home, two trailers and three outbuildings were destroyed in the blaze, and fire officials were expected today to have more information on the damage as crews investigate the canyon areas.

The cost to fight the Cerrito blaze was estimated at $1,250,000, Hutchinson said.

Capt. Jorge Rodriguez sat in his car on Sharp Road near the base of the smoking hill at around noon Wednesday. He said the fire jumped a containment line Tuesday night, but firefighters were able to squelch the blaze before it reached homes on nearby Olive Avenue.

Rodriguez said the weather was a big help.

"We've slowed it down," Rodriguez said. "We looking good right now."

Waiting, watching for smoke

The calm around the Good Hope area Wednesday was a far cry from the excitement of the previous day when the Cerrito fire burned its way across the hills toward the area, leaving 11,000 acres blackened, numerous vehicles and buildings destroyed, and six firefighters with minor injuries.

Shortly after noon, some firefighters could be seen napping upright in camping chairs under the shade of tall eucalyptus trees a couple hundred yards from the torched earth where the fire was stopped. Others ate a casual lunch on patio tables in residents' yards or sat in their engines.

Capt. Carl Lunsted and the rest of his strike team were at their fire station in Benicia, northeast of the Bay Area, when they got the call at around 8 p.m. Tuesday night to drive several hours south to the Cerrito fire.

"I got the call and, within 30 minutes, we were on the road," said Lunsted, 41. "We had already fought two fires up in our area yesterday."

The 20-member team arrived in Good Hope from northern California at around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday. By the time they parked their yellow fire engines, most of the excitement was over.

Firefighter Steve Shaw of the Vacaville Fire District said waiting is just part of the job.

"You're either going to work like a dog or you're going to sit for a while," said Shaw, 46.

Still, spirits were high among the team, particularly among those firefighters who reunited with old pals from different fire districts with whom they had fought previous wildfires, such as last year's Grand Prix fire in San Bernardino County.

One firefighter referred to the scene as "a state family of fire departments."

"This is a neat thing," said engineer Mark Stevens, 48. "I've seen some guys who I haven't seen in a while. It's a very tight group of guys."

While Wednesday may have been quiet, Stevens said there was no doubt in his mind that this year could be the worst fire season in history. He added that it's common for firefighters to joke with each other about how big each season will be, but this year is no joke.

"It's going to be mean," he said.

The firefighters weren't the only ones parked on Sharp Road waiting for action. Members of the county Sheriff's Mounted Posse milled around three white horse trailers hooked up to pickups.

While the mounted volunteer group is trained for search and rescue missions, the trailers were empty because the group had come to rescue horses trapped by the blaze.

"We're just here to help," said volunteer Gary Brown, as he stood next to his horse trailer wearing a black baseball cap with a Riverside County Sheriff's Department logo. "We love horses."

While there was little smoke around the Cerrito fire area, spinning dirt devils could be seen twisting all over the hills. Some of the cyclones sucked up clouds of blackened ash that looked like smoke, causing firefighters to hop in their engines and take off into the hills.

"We don't know if it's a real big dirt devil or smoke," said one firefighter just before his team headed up Christmas Tree Lane toward a black plume. "But we're going to check it out."

Further northwest near Lake Mathews, Steve Sunshine arrived at his home on Bienvenidos Road at around 2 p.m. He had left work early to make sure the blaze had been contained.

A hill less than 50 yards from his Spanish-tiled house was blackened the previous day by firefighters setting containment fires to keep the blaze from pushing north toward the homes, he said.

"We got lucky," said Sunshine, 51. "The fire departments were able to predict where the fire was going and it was amazing to watch them control it."

Sunshine said he and his wife moved their family to the 2.5-acre property 20 years ago. He said he usually clears a circle of brush from around his home in the summer in preparation for fire season, and the Cerrito fire caught them off guard.

Still, Sunshine said he doesn't mind looking at the blackened hill above his home for the time being. The native vegetation will soon sprout out of the ash.

"It will be green before you know it," Sunshine said.

India fire out, small blazes burn

With more than 2,050 acres burned, firefighters surrounded the India fire on Camp Pendleton by 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Two small fires near Fallbrook and on the La Jolla Indian Reservation were quickly controlled later in the day.

The India fire threatened the De Luz area for a time, burning an acre or two on the Fallbrook Naval Weapons Station. However, the wildfire that started Sunday on a live ammunition training range didn't damage buildings on either base, authorities said.

Two firefighters suffered minor heat exhaustion, said Pat Boss, spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.

He said fire crews will probably finish up the first big fire of the season in San Diego County in about a week.

At 11:45 a.m. flames threatened buildings and scorched up to 3 acres of grass at the base of Palomar Mountain on the La Jolla reservation, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman said.

CDF and U.S. Forest Service crews controlled the wildfire with half an hour. The cause of the blaze north of Highway 76 near South Grade Road was under investigation.

Shortly after noon a 1-acre brush fire blazed beside Interstate 15 at Mission Road near Fallbrook. A CDF crew stopped to help North County Fire Protection District firefighters put it out, a dispatcher said.

Contact staff writer Michael Buchanan at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2623, or mbuchanan@californian.com.