Vast stretches of the Angeles, Cleveland, and San Bernardino national forests had been closed in recent months to prevent people from sparking wildfires.
All those sections were to reopen Wednesday as a set of storms that began over the weekend was expected to bring much-needed rain in coming days.
Some roads will remain closed and officials warned that even a week's worth of rain isn't enough to eliminate the possibility of a repeat of last fall's devastating firestorms.
``Our fire season is by no means over. We still have several more months where Santa Ana winds are possible,'' said Stanton Florea, spokesman for the Angeles National Forest, where about 90 percent of land was put off-limits Sept. 27. ``But things are definitely looking better.''
Nearly all of the forest's 680,000 acres _ an area roughly the size of Rhode Island _ was to reopen Wednesday morning. Florea said 13 forest weather stations had recorded an average of 1.4 inches of rain since Saturday night.
During the closure, which lasted 23 days, rangers cited about 150 visitors or residents who violated forest rules and restrictions. Half of those were cited for being illegally inside the closed sections, and 15 of them owned cabins and lived full- or part-time on forest land. All faced fines of at least $50.
``Probably what we're most proud of is that we got through this critical period without any injuries or life lost,'' Florea said. ``We just don't know how many fires we might have prevented without the closure.''
The worst of the region's fire season comes when hot, dry Santa Ana race over mountains and through canyons in late October and November. Such winds propelled last fall's fast-moving firestorms, which burned across more than 750,000 acres, destroying 3,650 homes and killing 24 people.
In the San Bernardino forest, low-lying areas covering tens of thousands of acres had been closed in July. Residents who live in the area braced for possible floods or mudslides down denuded hills, similar to those that killed 16 people last Christmas Day.
``So far it's been slow and steady,'' forest spokeswoman Ruth Wenstrom said of the rain. ``The flip side that became really apparent during the Christmas Day floods is much of our land is too steep so we can't do much to prevent flooding and mudslides.''
Concerned homeowners below the mountains set up barriers of sandbags to divert runoff into flood channels, and forest leaders planned to send out patrols Wednesday morning to check for clogging in culverts.
About 20 percent of the 467,000-acre Cleveland National Forest east of San Diego was closed last month. The section, which did not burn in last fall's firestorms, was to reopen Wednesday evening, forest spokeswoman Joan Wynn said.
Like other forest officials, Wynn was exultant that rain had come before the drought-plagued region's traditional rainy season in February and March.
``Isn't it nice? I wish they'd give us a little break between storms, but beggars can't be choosers,'' she said.
