Los Angeles firefighters have had great success battling the Sunset fire, which sparked mandatory evacuation orders in Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills late Wednesday.

“It’s a miracle no houses burned here,” one firefighter told The Times. Hours earlier, flames had approached homes along North Curson Avenue. By 10:30 p.m., the flames on the distant hillside were barely visible.

“These are really nice houses up here,” one firefighter said to another as they watched a helicopter fly by to drop water. Fire officials on the scene said the fire was 50 acres at its peak and is now down to 42.3 acres – in retreat.

The fire briefly caused alarm throughout Hollywood. A mandatory evacuation order was issued for areas north of Hollywood Boulevard and south of Mulholland Drive, as well as east of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and west of the 101 Freeway around 5:30 p.m.

The fire was reported at 2350 N. Solar Drive in the Hollywood Hills.

The evacuation included iconic locations such as the TCL Chinese Theater, the Hollywood Pantages Theater, the Dolby Theater and Ovation Hollywood, the Hollywood shopping center.

Earlier on Wednesday, David Potts, 66, stood on his porch just a few hundred yards from the active fire, with a fire truck parked directly across the street.

Just up the hill, the crackle of flames interrupted the quiet hum of engines and running water. About every seven minutes, another helicopter would come by and drop water, dousing the neighborhood. He stopped to see if the water had put out a burning tree that he could see from where he was standing.

His home of eleven years is adjacent to Runyon Canyon. At around 4:30 p.m., he saw a fire nearby on the news and stepped outside, where he was met with the strong smell of smoke. He could see the flames just a few hundred meters up the hill, with a plot of land between him and the fire.

When the mandatory evacuation notice arrived shortly afterwards, his wife, daughter and son-in-law quickly packed their things and set off.

It took them two hours to drive to Glendale despite the chaos, but David stayed and got his tube out.

“A friend lost his house in Altadena this morning and I thought I would stay until the last minute,” he said.

He packed his truck with essentials and began spraying his home and yard.

For a while no help came. “Just as I was about to throw in the towel, two helicopters arrived,” he said. They dropped water and he saw a cloud of white steam raising embers everywhere.

He continued to spray: “I could see progress from the helicopters.”

Potts knows his neighbors well, he said, and everyone but him has left. It fell to him to text them updates as he struggled to find a mask, retrieve his ladder, and continually spray everything he could reach.

Later Wednesday, about 50 people stood at the police line at the foot of Curson Avenue — a winding road that runs from Franklin Boulevard into the hills next to Runyon Canyon — some wearing masks and most brandishing smartphones to capture the gun battle. At one point the slope glowed slightly.

Both firefighters and residents praised the effective water drainage for containing the fire. The nearby Hollywood Reservoir allowed for frequent trips, a fire official said. At 10:30 p.m. the water drops were passing about every 10 minutes. A Times reporter could feel the drizzle of water droplets as the last remnants of the fire were visible from his location.

At the top of the hill, some firefighters stood guard while others with chainsaws and garden tools went hundreds of feet higher up, cutting through a fire line near the summit of Runyon Canyon. Their flashlights swung from left to right as about a dozen men walked single file across the hill.

Most of the mandatory evacuation orders for the area were lifted, except for a few blocks affecting areas north of Franklin Avenue, west of Camino Palmero Street and east of Sierra Bonita Avenue. Firefighters wanted the area to continue to be evacuated to ensure there was no flare-up of vegetation in the area.

Citing improving conditions on site, the Los Angeles Fire Department is expected to lift all evacuation orders for the fire by 7:30 a.m. Thursday. Firefighters will remain in the area and the LAFD is advising residents to “use caution when returning to their homes.”