Wildfire L.A. Spreads Gradually

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE: A wildfire burned out of control through the Los Angeles foothills and deep into the brittle forest on Sunday, threatening 10,000 homes and encroaching on the region’s telecommunications nerve center.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the fire area and warned residents to heed evacuation orders for the “very dangerous” blaze that scorched 7,000 more acres (2,832 hectares) since day break for a total burned area of 42,500 acres (17,199 hectares).

Flames could be seen stretching 15 miles (24 km) above the heavily populated foothills, where an estimated 2,000 homes were under evacuation. At least 18 homes have burned, but most are thought to be cabins in a rustic canyon with few full-time residents.

At nightfall, firefighters focused their attention on Mount Wilson, the site of transmission towers for television and radio broadcasts and emergency services. Planes dumped water in the area, and officials said the fire could reach there in hours.

More than 2,500 firefighters were on the ground, coming from as far away as Wyoming and Montana, trying to build more than 100 miles (160 km) of fire protection lines.

In the suburb of La Crescenta, the streets were deserted Sunday afternoon except for a few residents fleeing with their suitcases and other belongings on foot.

Bob Sebesta, 47, sat watching the burning ridge from his in-laws’ house, which was evacuated Saturday night.

“I keep thinking I should go water the backyard,” Sebesta said.

The fire that started on Wednesday above the exclusive community of La Canada Flintridge is only 5 percent contained and officials expected that, with hot temperatures and low humidity, it would grow larger. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

HEALTH WARNINGS

Dense smoke filled the skies over the foothills and authorities issued health warnings for the Los Angeles basin.

A wooded neighborhood on the slopes of La Crescenta got the evacuation order in the middle of the night, but only around half the neighborhood left.

On Sunday afternoon, brothers Vince and John Bollier looked out onto the mountains in front of their parents’ house, where the fire had left only gray ash on the slopes.

“Last night was an inferno,” said Vince Bollier. “It was close, but it wasn’t life threatening, although a lot of people would have characterized it as dangerous.”

Sheriff’s deputies spent Sunday afternoon urging residents to leave, and it appeared most had.

Helicopters have been flying over the neighborhood for days, filling up with water to drop along the area where homes meet the dry wilderness.

The saving grace in the Station fire has been the absence of high winds, but much of the brush in the area has not burned in 60 years, terrain is difficult to access and humidity is low.

Four firefighters have been injured and three civilians have suffered burns, including two who were badly burned on Saturday after they tried to ride out the fire by sitting in a hot tub.

Many homeowners who were evacuated Friday and Saturday returned on Sunday, after an aerial assault with water and fire retardant saved their homes, many of them worth millions of dollars.

The relative lack of high winds has made fighting the fires from the air difficult because thick smoke hanging over them made them hard to see, Schwarzenegger said, adding that many of the flames are up to 80 to 100 feet high (24 to 30 metres).

Utility Southern California Edison said the blaze has cut power to about 250 customers.

Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County last week in response to four fires in the area.

On Sunday, he said, there were eight “huge” fires burning statewide. In total, 55,000 acres (22,257 hectares) have burned, he said.

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Wildfire L.A. Spreads Gradually was first posted on August 31, 2009 at 11:41 am.
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