Firefighters Hope Weather Will Slow Fire
Firefighters Hope Weather Will Help Them Contain Blaze Outside Los Angeles
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
The Associated Press
Sep. 30, 2005 - A 16,200-acre wildfire burned out of control early Friday in the hills and canyons along the city's northwestern edge, despite the efforts of thousands of firefighters who held out hope that the weather was on their side.
Mike Bryant, Los Angeles County Fire Department incident chief, said firefighters wanted to "throw every available resource we have" at the fire to take advantage of cooler temperatures and receding winds.
"Today is a very critical day for us," he said on NBC's "Today" show Friday. A new system was forecast in the coming days that could again whip up the flames, he added.
Some 3,000 firefighters aided by four airplanes releasing retardant and 11 helicopters dropping water attacked flames and protected ridgetop homes amid the brushy landscape west of the San Fernando Valley. By early Friday, the blaze was just 5 percent contained.
Hundreds of people have evacuated since the fire broke out Wednesday, with the flames destroying at least one home and five other structures. Smoke in the valley was so thick that cars drove with lights on in the afternoon.
The fire moved west much of the day, menacing Ventura County communities, then sent flanks in the opposite direction as winds shifted.
"If it wasn't for the wind changing, it would have ... gone all the way to the coast," said Joey Escobar, 45, who was among a group of people who gathered to watch the flames near Highway 101. "It's like a fireplace."
Temperatures were in the high 90s and conditions were dry through most of the day. But winds were relatively light and the forecast called for cooler temperatures.
As night fell Thursday, long lines of fire marched east toward the wealthy enclave of Hidden Hills and the western fringes of Los Angeles.
Mandatory or voluntary evacuations were in effect for homes scattered throughout the canyons and in parts of area cities along the south side of the fire and 10 miles north to Simi Valley.
Firefighters have saved some 2,000 structures from the flames, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said.
Fire also spread to parts of the 2,800-acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory where Rocketdyne has built everything from space rockets to Peacekeeper missiles over the past half century. Officials there canceled what was to be the lab's final rocket test because of the blaze; about 200 employees were evacuated.
Several abandoned and inactive structures at the site were destroyed, said Dan Beck, a spokesman for Boeing Co., which is doing environmental cleanup at the site. It was unclear how much acreage had been blackened.
About 600 people registered with the Red Cross on Thursday but it was not known how many would actually spend the night at the five shelters opened in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, said spokesman Nick Samaniego.
Actor Shelley Berman of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and his Bell Canyon neighbors evacuated, taking a few items from the home he has lived in since 1984.
"We were sitting watching television, had finished a nice dinner, everything was fine. ... Then suddenly, we were moving," said Berman, who went with his wife to a friend's house a few miles away in Westlake.
One other large wildfire in Southern California was 100 percent contained after burning 1,160 acres in San Timoteo Canyon between Redlands and Moreno Valley in Riverside County. No homes were destroyed.
The fire began at a chicken farm when welding equipment inside one of the coops accidentally sparked, fire officials said. More than 80,000 chickens nearly half of those at the farm were killed.
Morning update, Thurman fire below Big Bear...
Flames close highway
EVACUATION: As escape routes dwindle, residents are told to leave Angelus Oaks and sent to Big Bear Lake.
01:57 AM PDT on Friday, September 30, 2005
A rapidly moving fire marched uphill through dense brush in the San Bernardino Mountains toward the community of Angelus Oaks, prompting a mandatory evacuation of the town shortly before 7 p.m. Thursday.
More than 400 acres had burned by 8 p.m. as firefighters battled flames crackling through dense chaparral on rocky and near-vertical slopes. Fire officials said the blaze might grow by 200 acres overnight, fueled by heavy grasses and brush.
The blaze was 5 percent contained at dusk and officials hoped for 20 percent containment by morning.
Firefighters in Calabasas.
Setting back fires in the Santa Monica Mountains
Fire closes in on the Simi Valley Freeway
Thurman fire, Firefighters battle steep terrain near Forest Falls
Thurman Fire, Firefighter injured by falling debris
Thurman fire viewed from the Rim of the World Highway