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WORLD> America
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Calif. wildfire heads north, threatens thousands
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-31 08:09 "Our neighbors sent us photos of all the other houses that are lost," Halaas said, her voice breaking as her young son nestled his sunburned face in her arms. "We've heard as many as 30 houses burned." Driscoll said 15 of his neighbors who live on private property within the forest were still waiting for word on their homes. Fire officials assured them teams were working to survey the damage. At least four evacuation centers were set up at schools and community centers in the area. The center at Crescenta Valley High School filled up after evacuation orders came down at about 2 am, but by Sunday afternoon fewer than two dozen people remained. Residents trickled in to get information and snacks. Debbie and Mercer Barrows said their house was saved but they lost their scenic view of a hillside to the flames. "That'll grow back," said Mercer Barrows, a TV producer. The Barrows didn't consider staying in their home because there's only one way in to their La Crescenta neighborhood. "It depends where your house is, if you can see what's coming. If you're up next to steep and heavy brush like we are, forget it," Barrows said. The fire, which broke out Wednesday afternoon, was the largest and most dangerous of several burning around southern and central California and in Yosemite National Park. A second fire in the Angeles National Forest was burning several miles to the east in a canyon above the city of Azusa. The 3.4-square-mile blaze, which started Tuesday afternoon, was 95 percent contained Sunday. No homes were threatened, and full containment was expected by Monday. A wildfire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the south Los Angeles County coast was 100 percent contained, according to county fire officials. Southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County, a 3.8-square-mile fire in a rural area of the San Bernardino National Forest was 75 percent contained as it burned in steep, rocky terrain in Beeb Canyon. No structures were threatened. To the north, in the state's coastal midsection, all evacuation orders were lifted Sunday after a 10-square-mile fire burned near the Monterey County town of Soledad. The blaze, 80 percent contained, was started by agricultural fireworks used to scare animals away from crops. The fire destroyed one home. In Mariposa County, a nearly 7-square-mile fire burned in Yosemite National Park. The blaze was 50 percent contained Sunday, said park spokeswoman Vickie Mates. Two people sustained minor injuries, she said. Park officials closed a campground and a portion of Highway 120, anticipating that the fire would spread north toward Tioga Road, the highest elevation route through the Sierra. About 50 homes in the towns of El Portal and Foresta were under evacuation orders and roads in the area will remain closed through Monday, Mates said.
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