Fire Burns Home, 2,000 Acres in Calif.
Posted on: Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 00:00 CDT
REDLANDS, Calif. - A wildfire erupted quickly in the southern San Bernardino National Forest on Tuesday, burning a home and prompting the evacuation of a tiny mountain community.
Several fires have started in Southern California this week as hot weather dried out brush and increased fire danger.
The fire started about 3 p.m. and burned about 2,000 acres by dusk, authorities said. The cause was under investigation.
The community of Mountain Home Village was under a mandatory evacuation and nearby Angelus Oaks was under a voluntary evacuation, said Robin Prince, a forest spokeswoman.
One home was ablaze in a scene broadcast by a KABC-TV helicopter.
Four air tankers and two water-dropping helicopters attacked the flames as they moved north into the forest about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
The fire was burning near the eastern edge of the Santa Ana River, about 14 miles from San Bernardino, and was burning toward Morton Peak.
In northern Los Angeles County, firefighters gained ground on a 565-acre wildfire near Santa Clarita. The brush blaze was 70 percent surrounded, and residents of several closed streets were allowed to return home.
In Washington state, more favorable weather was helping firefighters battle a huge wilderness blaze that exploded in size Monday. Firefighters were pulled from the lines Monday because of unsafe conditions in hot, windy weather.
"Today, where weather is more in our favor - with higher humidity and lower temperatures and not as much wind - fire crews will make a direct attack on the fire," Nelson said Tuesday.
The lightning-caused fire covers about 142,326 acres in the Pasayten Wilderness in the north-central part of the state. There are 1,562 people battling the fire, and it is about 48 percent trailed, he said.
Inside the wilderness boundaries, no mechanized equipment can be used to fight the flames, though aircraft can drop water, Nelson said.
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
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