U.S. fire crews said Friday they were getting the upper hand on a blaze that has triggered evacuations on the island of Santa Catalina, off the coast of southern California.
  
Fire Chief Steven Hoefs said weather conditions are helping keep property safe.

A fire truck is unloaded from a U.S. Navy hovercraft near the city of Avalon Friday.
(Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press)

"We're hanging in for now," Hoefs said.

Hoefs estimated that 400 residents have left the island by ferry.

At the mainland port of Long Beach, island resident Kathy Troeger arrived on a ferry with her three children and a friend's daughter. Her husband, a captain in the county fire's Baywatch division, stayed behind to help fight the fire.

"It was like a nightmare when we left," she said. "You couldn't breathe and ash was falling like snow."

Fire broke out Thursday afternoon. It was being fed by dry brush and a steady wind.

The island, about 50 kilometres offshore, has received only five centimetres of rain since January.
  
One home and a few small businesses in the canyons outside the city of Avalon have burned.

Catalina is a long, narrow island that is 196 square kilometres in area and is served by ferries from Los Angeles, Long Beach and other mainland harbours.

Most of the island's residents live in Avalon, which has a population of about 3,200 that swells to more than 10,000 on weekends and in summer.