UPDATE: Sand fire 40 percent contained as residents begin cleanup

The Sand fire gobbled up more than 800 new acres near Acton overnight Tuesday, but no additional homes or lives were lost, fire officials said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in anticipation of the weekend, county and national forest authorities warned of trail and open space closures in areas around the nearly 60-square-mile burn area.

No new structures have burned, Fire Department spokesman Jay Nichols said, and no new reports of injury have been made, either to residents or to firefighters. The number of homes destroyed by the Sand fire stood at 18, with one life lost.

“Right now, we have a 40 percent containment,” Nichols said. “But we expect that containment figure to increase.

“We’ve managed to keep it contained with lines now in place.”

Late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, the fire burned “800-plus acres” in the Soledad Canyon and Mountain Canyon areas, Nichols said. As of Wednesday afternoon, 38,346 acres had burned