AVALON, Calif. --
Life is returning to normal on Catalina Island where a wildfire that blackened 4,750 acres is 76 percent contained.
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It cost Los Angeles County about $3 million to fight that fire but more damage was done to the island's economy, NBC4 reported.
The first Catalina Express ferry carrying tourists back to the island left from Long Beach at 6:15 a.m. Monday, according to NBC4's Donna Tetreault.
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Residents were allowed to return to the island's main town of Avalon over the weekend .
Full containment of the wildfire is expected by Tuesday evening as firefighters complete the encirclement of the 5-day-old fire that came perilously close to Avalon, the island's main town.
The fire was 76 percent contained as of Sunday night, Los Angeles County fire officials said.
Six firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the blaze, which destroyed one home and six other structures, including barns and sheds.
Most tourist facilities, such as restaurants and hotels, are expected to be open on Monday. Avalon, home to about 3,400 full-time residents, can swell to about 10,000 residents during its summer peak season, and businesses that rely on tourists reportedly lost $500,000 a day as a result of the blaze.
Electricity was restored to Avalon residents by 7 Sunday night and natural gas service was restored to about half of the 200 customers who had their service interrupted, according to Southern California Edison.
Santa Catalina's fresh drinking water supply has been maintained through some repairs and generators brought by SCE to power the island's drinking water wells and pumps, SCE reported.
However, about 200 of SCE's 2,500 electricity customers were still without power in Catalina's interior, where the fire did the most damage, and the 200 residents of Two Harbors, at the other end of the island from Avalon, were without electricity, phone and Internet service.
Although flames never got within 15 miles of Two Harbors, the community will remain without utilities until SCE crews replace about 150 poles and string 106,000 feet of power lines in rough terrain, SCE said.
Officials have distributed two dozen generators for the residents at Two Harbors to share, in hopes of keeping refrigerators and emergency gear running.
The fire started Thursday morning in rugged terrain between Avalon and Catalina's airport and burned up to the outskirts of Avalon before the wind shifted and blew the blaze back into the interior of the island, fire officials said.
The fire was accidentally started by a repair crew using a circular saw at radio station KBRT's Catalina transmitter towers, said Avalon fire Chief Steven Hoefs. KBRT, whose studios are in Costa Mesa, stopped transmitting paid- religious programming as a result of the fire.
A slightly scaled-down crew of 625 firefighters, 41 fire engines and two helicopters were still fighting the blaze, according to Los Angeles County fire officials.
Los Angeles County has spent $3.3 million to fight the fire so far, fire officials said. That sum does not include the expense of the five U.S. Navy hovercraft pressed into service to bring fire engines from the mainland, or the Catalina Express boats that ferried firefighters to the island and evacuated residents and tourists to the mainland.
Previous Stories:
- May 13, 2007: Tourists Asked To Avoid Catalina Island Over Weekend
- May 13, 2007: Fire Foils Couple's Catalina Nuptial Plans
- May 11, 2007: Crews Attack Hot Spots On Catalina Island
