Firefighters from across Ventura County are continuing to battle the Ranch fire from the ground and from the air.

The fire, which crossed into Ventura County two days ago, was 70 percent contained Wednesday evening. Fire officials hope to have it fully contained by Wednesday.

The fire had scorched 54,716 acres by Wednesday evening. The fire's western-most flank had reached Oat Mountain, west of Lake Piru, said Capt. Pete Jensen of the Ventura County Fire Department, said today.

"Fortunately for everyone, the winds are cooperating," Jensen said.

Malibu's Canyon fire was fully contained by Wednesday evening. The fire so far burned 4,565 acres and injured four firefighters, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. All of the injuries were minor.

The Buckweed fire burned 38,356 acres in the Agua Dulce, Canyon Country and Saugus area before it was fully contained Wednesday. Four people suffered minor injuries from that fire, including three firefighters. Another person was severely injured.

The Magic fire near Santa Clarita is fully contained after consuming 2,824 acres.

About 1,260 firefighters fighting the Ranch fire are camping at Shiells Park in Fillmore.

Weary firefighters are going to Shiells Park in Fillmore where they are resting up before going out again to fight the fires.The mood at the temporary fire camp where some 1260 firefighters are based, seemed more relaxed Wednesday, thanks in good part to the weakening Santa Ana winds. Those winds, which reached gale-force speeds, made it very difficult to fight the more than dozen fires that sprang up across Southern California during the past four days.

Firefighters would try to establish a containment line, only to have the winds carry embers over their heads and onto parched brush and scrubland behind them.

Firefighters were also hampered by the often forbidding terrain with its steep canyons and cliffs.

Despite the difficult topography, firefighters are having an easier time with the Ranch fire than they did with either the 2006 Day fire or this year's Zaca fire, said Fred Burris, a captain with the Ventura County Fire Department.

Firefighters had to contend with thicker brush with the Day and Zaca fires, Burris said.

No smoke was visible around Fillmore on Wednesday afternoon, and things seemed to be getting back to normal.

"It's cleared up quite a bit," said Tania Melgoza, owner of Estrella Market in downtown Fillmore. "On Sunday it looked like it was nighttime at 2 in the afternoon," she said.

Melgoza said smoke from the fire made it hard to breathe for several days. She closed her door to keep falling ash from getting into the store.

As firefighters have gained the upper hand in controlling the blazes herein Ventura County and northern Los Angeles County, they have been sent south to fight the firestorm in San Diego County, the scene of some of the most devastating infernos this week.

Some 40 firefighters from across Ventura County, including the cities of Ventura, Oxnard and Santa Paula, as well as Ventura County firefighters, are now in San Diego County, Jensen said.

Back in Ventura County, officials were able to reopen reopened Highway 126 today on TuesdayWednesday. They also canceled rescindeda recommended evacuation for residents of Piru.

An emergency center set up in Fillmore for those who left their homes isclosed todayWednesday evening.

Meanwhile, six military cargo planes stationed at Channel Islands Air National Guard are slated to join the airstrike against the fires in Southern California. When, and where, they will be used has yet to be determined.

The six C-130 aircraft are outfitted with a high-tech firefighting system, which sits inside the cargo bay. It can spray a 100-foot-wide area that's a quarter-mile long.

Each system contains five pressurized tanks capable of carrying 2,500 gallons of fire retardant.

The planes, which are based in Colorado Springs, Colo., Cheyenne, Wyo., and Charlotte, N.C., are being made available thanks to an agreement between the U.S. Air National Guard and the U.S. Forest Service.

Judging by the weather forecast, the planes will not have to deal with the gale-force winds of earlier this week. The wind advisory, in place across the region since Sunday, was canceled Wednesday.

The National Weather Service says heavier winds will persist at higher elevations, but ocean winds are expected to return to much of coastal Ventura County later today. The winds should be about 10 mph.

Temperatures across much of the county Ventura Countyare expected to remain in the mid- to upper 80s today, despite the weakening Santa Anas. As the high pressure system over the Great Basin in Utah moves east, temperatures here are expected to drop over the coming days, said Bill Hoffer, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

Hoffer said temperatures should be back to the mid-70s by Sunday or Monday.

The air quality in Ventura County, which was blanketed with smoke during the first half of this week, also is improving, said Mallory Ham, an air-pollution meteorologist for the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.

While some smoke from the nearby fires continues to make its way through the county, much of it is higher in the sky.

"We don't have nearly as much of it at the ground level as we did earlier this week," Ham said. The air quality is expected to improve in the days to come.

A shelter for large animals set up at the Ventura County Fairgrounds earlier this week for large animals, also is closingtoday. County officials have offered to shelter large animals from San Diego County. Officials in San Diego had yet to respond to the county's offer as of late Wednesday afternoon.

Pet owners can still take their smaller animals to a shelter in Camarillo at 600 Aviation Drive. The shelter's phone number is 388-4341.

Those wanting to take their cats and dogs to the Agoura Hills Animal Shelter, 29525 Agoura Road, can still do so. A worker at the shelter, located at 29525 Agoura Road, said many cat and dog owners were coming back to the shelter today to pick up their animals that they'd left there earlier in the week because of the fires.The shelter's phone number is 818-991-0071.

The animals at Moorpark College's teaching zoo, including a lion, tiger and hyenas, were taken back to the facility Wednesday.

The animals were taken off campus late Monday night and early Tuesday morning as the air around the college became clogged with smoke.

— Staff writers Adam Foxman and Charles Levin contributed to this report.