The Madre Fire’s containment continued to increase Sunday, leading to an ongoing decrease in personnel assigned to the incident.

The fire sparked shortly after 1 p.m. July 2 north of Highway 166, about 40 miles east of Santa Maria. 

As of Sunday morning, firefighters had surrounded 79% of the 80,786-acre fire, with zero perimeter growth, incident commanders said Sunday.

Suppression efforts continue to focus on building and strengthening perimeter lines plus dealing with isolated hot spots and completing repairs, firefighting officials said.

Nearly 600 personnel remained assigned to the incident Sunday evening, after topping 1,500 on July 8.

Since the blaze started, two firefighters have been injured. Details on the extent of injuries or their conditions weren’t provided. 

One structure was destroyed due to the fire and another was damaged.

Highway 166 between Highway 101 and Cuyama Valley remained open this weekend after being closed for several days when the firefighting effort began.