Firefighters Hope Weather Will Slow Fire
LOS ANGELES — 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.
"The winds have died down substantially and that’s going to be a big advantage for us in getting control," said Los Angeles County fire Capt. Kurt Schaefer. "With the weather changing, we should start to see the containment numbers go up."
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.
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Associated Press Writers Paul Chavez, Jeff Wilson, Lynn Elber, Alicia Chang and Tim Molloy contributed to this story.