Good progress on Pfeiffer Fire overnight; perimeter holds, 79 percent contained.

The number of firefighters battling the Pfeiffer Fire almost doubled over the past 24 hours, rising to 1,007 as of 6am Thursday. 

That team successfully held the perimeter through a night of gusty winds, despite fears that embers could blow and expand the fire's reach.

Their fire lines along Sycamore Canyon Road and Highway 1 also held, keeping the fire from jumping the roads and reaching new territory. 

Acreage burned was up slightly, to 917 acres, due to the fire going back over its own tracks and burning some of what was left in its original path.

Just after a 10-minute planning meeting in a tent at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park last night, which has been transformed into the incident command station and is scattered with firefighters' tents, Central Coast Team 7 Planning Chief Ann Marx identified a few concerns. 

"Our one big thing is the potential for high winds, and that the winds push the fire out of our current lines," she said Wednesday night.

As of Thursday morning, they had succeeded.

Firefighters were also helped by light rain early this morning. 

"That extra humidity really helped," U.S. Forest Service Public Information Officer Lynn Olson says. 

Olson says Central Coast Command Team 7 is anticipating reaching 100-percent containment by Friday at 6pm, a full 24 hours ahead of schedule. 

"Then we'll start demobilizing," Olson says. That means some firefighters will likely be home for Christmas.