Residents evacuated in face of fire

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Posted 9:39AM on Sunday, May 12, 2002

LOS ANGELES - A fast-moving wildfire that has charred 3,200 acres forced the evacuation of more than 100 residents and threatened dozens of homes Saturday on federal forest land, fire officials said. About 1,000 firefighters were assigned to the blaze as flames quickly spread through dry, hilly terrain north of Santa Clarita. There were no reports of injuries. Two small buildings, an outhouse and a shed, were destroyed. Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies helped evacuate 150 residents from the 110 cabins that dot the canyon area, said Gayle Wright, an Angeles National Forest spokeswoman. By 9:15 p.m., the fire was 15 percent contained as it continued to burn through light to heavy brush. No additional cabins or other buildings were threatened. Shelby Shively, who works in a cafe several miles from the fire, said she could see ashes the size of dimes floating in the air. ``The sky looks orange-yellow, and fire trucks have been passing by like mad since 11 o'clock,'' she said. ``It's getting hazy around the mountains, too.'' The fire was first reported about 10:30 a.m. By 11 a.m., officials began evacuating residents after a 15 mph wind pushed the blaze over a road toward homes. Flames got within 20 feet to 30 feet from some homes before hitting a firebreak created by firefighters, Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Brian Jordan said. ``These are people living in the forest,'' he said. ``There are homes directly threatened.'' The cause of the fire was unknown. Santa Clarita is 22 miles north of Los Angeles. Also Saturday, firefighters said they had contained a wildfire that forced dozens of people to evacuate a small Navajo community, and that another blaze near Santa Fe was nearly contained. A 740-acre fire near Toadlena, N.M. was declared contained by firebreaks late Friday, information officer Chadeen Palmer said. ``When we got ahold of it, we really got ahold of it. Our crews were able to put it to sleep,'' she said. All the families who had been evacuated from the small Navajo community in the Chuska Mountains of northwestern New Mexico had been allowed to return to their homes Thursday night. The fire was started by a campfire on Monday and burned two outbuildings. Charges were pending against the person suspected of starting it. About 15 miles east of Santa Fe, crews contained an 800-acre fire in the Santa Fe National Forest, said fire information officer Jack Horner. In Colorado, a 200-acre wildfire that forced 2,400 people from their homes west of Denver was declared under control late Friday. It had been contained on Wednesday. The fire was reported Monday and burned to within a quarter-mile of one house and within two miles of a subdivision.