The blaze was 50 percent contained, a decrease from a Saturday night report of 60 percent containment when the brush fire was measured at about 25 acres.

It ignited about 12:40 p.m. Saturday after a multiple-vehicle collision in the northbound lanes of the 15 injured a motorcyclist. While a CHP officer and firefighter treated the rider, an oxygen tank exploded, burning the first responders, officials have said. The burning oxygen tank may have also ignited brush on the east side of the Freeway between the truck scales and Highway 38 exit.

A ditch burned, and the fire hop-scotched up a hillside and jumped Highway 138.

Firefighters extinguished flames that burned brush south of the highway and were focusing much of their efforts to stopping the blaze from spreading further north of the two-lane highway.

A motorcycle rider suffered injuries in a collision involving his 1985 Harley Davidson, a tour bus and two other cars on the northbound 15 about 12:40 p.m., according to Brian Alvarez, a CHP spokesman.

A CHP officer and a firefighter were tending to the 46-year-old motorcycle rider when an oxygen tank caught fire and burned them. The officer’s face and hands were burned, and she was taken by an ambulance to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. A fire official didn’t know the extent of the firefighter’s injuries.

The motorcyclist had serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville.

The burning oxygen tank likely ignited brush off the side of the freeway between the truck scales and Highway 138.

Multiple lanes of the 15 Freeway were closed, causing severe congestion on the northbound 15 and 215 freeways.

The blaze, dubbed the Scales fire because it was near the truck scales in the pass, burned a ditch on the side of the freeway, jumped a road and started meandering up a hillside toward Highway 138. A McDonald’s restaurant and Chevron gas station were evacuated and ordered to close as firefighters worked the spotting fire, according to Justin Correll, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.

“Once we got to a point where we felt this fire was wrapped up, we saw smoke overhead,” he said.

Floating embers had ignited vegetation on the north side of Highway 138 and, aided by the wind and dry brush, the fire made a run northeast through the hills.

At least three helicopters and two planes were dropping water and retardant on the blaze, while hand crews and dozer operators cut lines.

By about 9 p.m., 350 firefighters had the blaze 60 percent contained. Roughly 25 acres had burned, according to Correll.

• Photos: Scales Fire burns in Cajon Pass

No structures were threatened, he added, and the fast-food restaurant and gas station reopened.

The shooting happened about 8:12 p.m. near Sixth and G streets, according to Lt. David Green.

The unidentified victim was hit in his lower body.

Green said the victim was uncooperative, and police had no suspect information.

The Tex Wash Bridge supporting eastbound traffic lanes collapsed in a storm on July 19.

For nearly a week, motorists were directed around the bridge in a long detour. Then on July 24, officials opened what are usually the westbound lanes to one lane of traffic in each direction.

The posted speed limit dropped to 45 mph and “delays have been minimal,” Caltrans officials said in a statement.

Crews finished removing pieces of the broken bridge Friday morning, according to Caltrans. They are expected to start rebuilding the bridge within a week or so. Construction is expected to be completed in September.

The project will cost about $5 million, which includes reinforcing the westbound bridge and setting up the current traffic configuration, according to Caltrans.

Investigators were working to determine if the north-side killing was with malice or self-defense, according to Lt. David Green.

Officers were called about 8:19 p.m. to a home in the 200 block of East 53rd Street regarding a domestic dispute.

Police found a man’s body at the residence, Green said.

A woman involved in the dispute was taken to a hospital for medical treatment and was being detained for questioning.

Detectives remained on scene late Thursday.

“I can’t tell you if it’s a murder or a self-defense,” Green said shortly after 10 p.m.. “I really don’t know.”

She asked members of the Sheriff’s Department to cover Kimball Moore’s body, but, she said, they told her they couldn’t. Doing so could destroy evidence.

“My son was laid out on that concrete for over four hours,” Gary said in a phone interview Tuesday. “They did not move my son’s body from the sidewalk. I kept asking them, could they just cover him up?”

Moore’s 27-year-old body rested in front of an apartment complex and across the street from a church in an unincorporated pocket of San Bernardino for about 81/2 hours, according to coroner’s records, while Moore’s mother, fiancee and daughter gazed at their loved one’s body.

On Tuesday, Sheriff John McMahon suggested similar situations are unlikely to occur in the future.

He was at the Highland station unveiling the department’s new crime scene barriers, which will surround the bodies of homicide and fatal car crash victims to block them from public view.

The department purchased 19 pairs of 6-foot-wide barriers that stand 4 to 8 feet high, with “San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department” emblazoned in reflective lettering over black nylon.

Criminal justice leaders have identified barriers as the best way to maintain evidence while giving dignity to the deceased, a message sheriff’s officials echoed.

The old-school technique of placing sheets over bodies can wipe away critical evidence, like hair or gunshot residue, according to McMahon.

“We always try to keep in mind the family may possibly be driving around or be in the area, which is one reason why the sheriff asked us to look into stuff like this, so, you know, we could definitely try to appease everybody and keep the integrity of the investigation as well,” said homicide Sgt. Trevis Newport.

Losing a loved one violently often has negative psychological effects on humans. Those issues can be exacerbated with the memories of a gruesome image, according to Dr. Frank Ochberg, a clinical psychiatrist and professor at Michigan State University.

“It certainly can leave an imprint on your mind that comes back when you don’t want it to,” he said. “That’s the hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder,” or injury, as he prefers to call it.

The Sheriff’s Department is hoping to limit those side effects with their $47,000 purchase. That money had already been allocated to the Sheriff’s Department, and the Board of Supervisors approved the acquisition, according to McMahon.

Two sets of barriers — four in total — will be placed in each of the of the sheriff’s crime scene investigation trucks. Both of the department’s Major Accident Investigations Teams — one stationed in the High Desert, the other in the Inland Empire — will have two sets of barriers. The Coroner’s Office will also have a set in case someone dies of natural causes, like a heart attack, in public, McMahon said.

“As soon as the CSI team gets there or the MAIT folks get there, they’ll set it up,” McMahon said.” Whether it be around a car, if it’s a major accident investigation or around a body if the body’s laying out in public view.

“Obviously if the victim is in the house, we’re not going to use these, but if its out in the public view, we’ll set these up as soon as they get there.”

McMahon said the new barriers were purchased to replace flimsy 20-year-old ones, which were often toppled by wind. However, the Sheriff’s Department didn’t always use those barriers to the ire of victims’ families, as documented in a report by this news organization last year.

Brian Levin, a criminal justice professor at Cal State San Bernardino, complimented the Sheriff’s Department for investing in the barriers.

“The best advancements in policing arrive out of sincere community concerns,” he said. “This is a laudable effort by (the Sheriff’s Department) to do such a thing.”

The Sheriff’s Department’s barriers arrived with a custom feature. The manufacturer, Stop Rubbernecking, sliced four mouth-shaped slits into each partition to allow wind to pass through. The vents, coupled with sandbags that are placed around steel stands and an option to nail them down with tent-like stakes, has Newport confident the barriers will hold up to the strong winds of the High Desert.

Gary, the mother of Moore, said the barriers seem like a good purchase. Still, she wishes her son’s body would have been blocked from view on that devastating night in May 2014.

“I guess it’s just a mother’s feeling,” she said. “I just think that he should’ve been covered.”

The 60-year-old resident, whose name was not released, was driving north on Vineyard Avenue about 7:15 p.m. Friday when he crashed into an SUV at the intersection where Vineyard turns into Carnelian Street.

“According to witnesses, (the motorcyclist) ran a red light and collided with a gray 2008 Mazda CX7 turning south onto Vineyard,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

The motorcyclist was thrown from his bike, and paramedics rushed to the scene. He was taken to San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland where he died.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider setting aside $75,000 in potential reward money for tipsters. The funds would be paid to people who help authorities arrest and convict drone operators who interfered with firefighting efforts at three recent wildfires.

At the Lake, Mill 2 and North fires, firefighting aircraft were temporarily grounded because drones flew above the fires, presenting a hazard to pilots. If the measure passes, $25,000 would be set aside for each of the three fires.

“What’s on the agenda is actions that have already taken place, so that’s what we can offer rewards for,” said board Chairman James Ramos, who brought the item to the board. “We don’t know what would happen in the future.”

If passed, he said, he hopes it might deter others from flying drones over future fires.

On July 17, the North fire ignited near the 15 Freeway in the Cajon Pass. Before the fire jumped the freeway and destroyed or damaged 30 vehicles, five drones were spotted above the fire. Planes and helicopters that drop flame retardant or water were ordered away from the area for the pilots’ safety.

“If a bird can take down an airplane, absolutely a drone can as well,” said Capt. Liz Brown, a Cal Fire spokeswoman.

Investigators haven’t determined how big an impact the halting of airborne firefighting efforts had on the fire. But Ramos wondered, if aircraft weren’t turned away, could the flames have been contained before they burned the congested freeway?

Aircraft are essential to fighting wildfires, according to Brown. Even if they don’t completely quell the blaze, the flame and water drops slow the fire’s progress so ground troops and hand crews can catch up to the head of the fire.

“Now, we have a faster moving fire based on the drought,” Brown said.” And now we have a necessary tool that we can’t use for no reason except that someone doesn’t want to do the right thing.”

There are no laws specifically barring people from flying drones — normally used to take pictures or video — above wildfires.

However, drone users can be charged up to a $1,000 fine under the broad statute of interfering with firefighting efforts.

The state Legislature is considering a bill that would increase the penalty to up to $2,000 if the interference is caused by a drone or $5,000, if someone knowingly, intentionally or recklessly violates that statute with a drone.

Also, a temporary flight restriction, or TFR, is normally put in place over wildfires, meaning only firefighting agencies can fly there.

“Any unmanned aircraft operator who violates a TFR and endangers the safety of manned aircraft could be assessed a civil penalty for careless or reckless operation of an aircraft,” said Lynn Lunsford, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman.

Those civil penalties can range from $1,000 to $25,000, she said.

Congress is considering several pieces of legislation regarding drone use by hobbyists.

“This is version 1.0, so there is no case law, there is no legislation, nothing,” Brown said.

The illegal grow operation negatively impacted the environment around Day Creek Canyon, authorities said Friday.

The sheriff’s marijuana enforcement team worked with the DEA and the state attorney general’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, formed to eradicate cultivation camps “that cause deforestation, damage to wildlife habitats, pose danger to our citizens, and hazardous-chemical pollutions,” according to the attorney general’s website.

About a mile north of the city limits, authorities on Thursday morning found 4,278 marijuana plants standing four to seven feet tall in rugged terrain, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Two Mexican nationals were apparently living there and tending to the crops. Investigators found camping equipment and a large amount of trash, according to the sheriff’s statement.

“The suspects cut and cleared the natural brush so they could plant the marijuana,” the statement said. “This causes irreversible damage to the forest. The water used to irrigate the plants was obtained from natural resources using plastic tubing.”

About 25,000 gallons of water was being diverted from streams and creeks to water the plants, authorities said.

Fertilizers, pesticides and animal repellent can also damage the area’s wildlife by contaminating streams, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Olivario Gonzalez-Salcedo, 45, and Hector Rincon-Arreola, 23, both of Michoacán, Mexico, were in the process of harvesting the marijuana when investigators interrupted their operation, authorities said.

The two men fled into the brush were they were arrested without further incident, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

They face federal charges of manufacturing a controlled substance, the Sheriff’s Department said.

The crash happened about 4:16 p.m. at Palmdale and Cobalt Roads, Jodi Miller said in an email.

Additional details, including which vehicles the victims were in, were not immediately available.