Los Angeles  - Cooler weather Monday helped firefighters make headway on the Sheep Fire, which has burned some 3,000 hectares since the weekend.

The blaze, which erupted Saturday in the rugged San Bernardino Mountains south-east of Los Angeles, is being battled by about 1,300 personnel and was approximately
20 per cent contained as of Monday morning.

Despite the progress the 4,500 residents of the town of Wrightwood remained under a mandatory evacuation order as the fire continued to threaten about 2,000 homes.

"The fire has significantly laid down and that's due to the decrease in the wind. We've got the favourable weather that we hope to have," said Kristel Johnson of the US Forest Service, in a press conference.  dpa