Update: Smiley Fire in San Bernardino County remains fully contained by Monday evening

Published Jul 1, 2025 #Smiley fire

Updated: 9:43 p.m. June 30

First discovered: 55 hours ago, 2:36 p.m. June 28

Initial location: San Timoteo Canyon Road and Smiley Road, South of Redlands, San Bernardino County, Calif.

Fire unit: Unified Command: Cal Fire San Bernardino Unit, Redlands Fire Department, and Riverside County Fire Department

Fire type: Wildfire

Fire name: Smiley Fire

Smiley Fire initially started 2:36 p.m. June 28 in San Bernardino County, California.

After being active for two days, it has burned 83 acres. The fire crew managed to contain the fire entirely as of Monday evening. However, investigations into the cause are ongoing.

Cal Fire status update

Situation Summary

Firefighters will continue to strengthen containment lines throughout the day. No injuries reported.

Fire containment

What does 100% containment mean?

Note that full containment doesn’t mean the fire is completely out. In this case, it means that firefighters have managed to get a line completely around the wildfire’s perimeter and it is now stopped from spreading. A fully contained wildfire may continue to burn within the containment perimeter but is not likely to spread.

However, there’s a significant difference between containing and controlling a wildfire. After the fire is fully contained, the next step is to control it. Controlling a fire means ensuring that the fire can’t spread or cross the containment line.

Containment is part of a larger plan for managing a wildfire. It is normally expressed as a percentage and it refers to how much of the fire perimeter has been surrounded/enclosed by a control line that firefighters create. The containment percentage indicates a certain level of control, but it doesn’t always correlate to safety level. Also, it’s important to note that containment doesn’t mean a fire is out.

How is containment measured?

The incident’s central command constantly receives progress reports from firefighters on the ground. As the fireline is constructed, inspected or reinforced, mappers record those details to adjust the containment percentage. The percentage tells the public how much of the fire perimeter is believed to not go beyond the control lines.

Source: Cal Fire