Written by Janet
LA-area blaze size doubles, threatens 12,000 homes
There’s a massive fire now burning near Los Angeles, and it has doubled in size overnight, threatening 12,000 homes Monday in a 20-mile (32-kilometer)-long swath of flame and smoke and surging toward a mountaintop broadcasting complex.
At least 6,600 homes are now under emergency evacuation, orders and more than 2,500 firefighters were battling the flames. On the blaze’s northwestern front, two firefighters were killed Sunday when they drove off the side of a road on Mount Gleason near the city of Acton.
The fire is now burning north, and has already destroyed 18 homes in its path. Despite the lack of wind, it surged without letup by running through steep granite canyons and feeding on brush that had not burned for 40 years to a century.
The fire had burned 134 square miles (347 sq. kilometers) of brush and trees by early Monday and was just 5 percent contained.
The dead firefighters were Capt. Tedmund Hall, 47, of San Bernardino County, and firefighter Specialist Arnaldo “Arnie” Quinones, 35, of Palmdale. Hall was a 26-year veteran, and Quinones had been a county firefighter for eight years.
With flames about a half-mile (800 meters) away from the communications and astronomy centers on Mount Wilson, crews planned to set more backfires and planes dropped fire retardant around the mountaintop complex, which hold transmitters for more than 20 television stations, many radio stations and cell phone providers.
The fire has now burned 85,000 acres. This is all without the famed Santa Ana winds. For those who don’t know, these are the hot desert winds that blow from the east, this time of year. Two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar university programs are housed in the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory. The complex of buildings is both a historic landmark and a thriving modern center for astronomy.
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/ 08/31/2009San Bernardino County fire threatens 2,000 homes
The U.S. Forest Service says a wildfire has forced evacuations and is threatening 2,000 homes in a scenic farm area of San Bernardino County.
A mandatory evacuation is in force Monday for Oak Glen, about 90 minutes east of Los Angeles. The community has many apple orchards in rolling hills below the San Bernardino Mountains. Forest Service spokeswoman Norma Bailey says the 900-acre blaze began Sunday afternoon and is burning out of control through oak and conifer woodlands.
There’s only light wind but humidity is low. The high temperature is expected to top 90 degrees. Another 2,400-acre blaze that began Thursday near Hemet is 95 percent contained. Meanwhile, a 134-square-mile blaze continues to threaten 12,000 homes north of Los Angeles.
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/ 09/01/2009The LA fire rages on
Tuesday, the wildfire in LA has now destroyed 53 homes. Thousands more are threatened. New rounds of evacuations are planned. Flames plowed through half-century-old thickets of tinder-dry brush, bush and trees just 15 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Firefighters awaited daybreak to learn the new extent of the 6-day-old fire, which is now expected to burn for weeks.
The fire in the Angeles National Forest is 190 square miles.
Firefighters planned to set backfires to protect the Sunland area and will try to halt its northeastern spread with bulldozers to carve eight miles of firebreak in the Acton area.
Firefighters were keeping a close eye on the weather. Hurricane Jimena roared toward Baja California, but was not forecast to have much of a factor in firefighting efforts because it is expected to dissipate by the time it hits Southern California.
There is a 20 percent chance of a thunderstorm in the fire area Tuesday, but that could end up being a bad thing because the storm could spawn 40-mph wind gusts.
Crews fighting the blaze also were contending with favorable fire conditions such as high temperatures and low humidity. Temperatures near the fire were expected to hit 102 degrees Fahrenheit Tuesday. East of Los Angeles, a large fire forced the evacuation of a scenic community of apple orchards in an oak-studded area of San Bernardino County. Brush in the area had not burned for a century.
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/ 09/02/2009California counts cost of raging wildfires
– A raging wildfire north of Los Angeles has displaced thousands of anxious Californians, burning 140,150 acres by Wednesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/weather/09/02/california.wildfire/index.html
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/ 09/03/2009Firefighters continue progress in Station Fire
Firefighters brought a sprawling wildfire near Los Angeles under greater control Thursday, despite a flare-up in a remote canyon that prompted about 25 nearby residents to be evacuated.
The blaze was 38 percent contained Thursday morning, up from 28 percent the previous day. The fire now measures 144,743 acres (58,600 hectares) and is one of the largest wildfires in Southern California history.
Despite the overall progress, firefighters encountered a flare-up in the canyon as strong downslope winds “just kind of blew the fire up,” said U.S. Forest Service official John Huschke. Twenty-five people in 11 homes were evacuated.
“Everything else looks really good,” he said.
Some 12,000 homes in foothill communities below the fire’s southeastern edge officially remained threatened, although other communities farther west that were under siege for days were out of danger.
The forecast called for hot and dry weather in the next couple days, with Thursday’s high hovering around 100 in the fire area, the National Weather Service said.
The wildfire, now in its eighth day, destroyed 64 homes, burned three people and left two firefighters dead. During the night, a firefighter injured his leg when he fell 20 foot (6 meters) from a cliff and was taken to a hospital by a medical helicopter, officials said. He was in stable condition.
Full containment was expected Sept. 15, meaning fire officials expect that they will have the blaze completely surrounded by then.
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/ 11/26/2009Anaheim Hills fire 90% contained
A wind-driven fire near Anaheim Hills that has burned 80 acres and had been expected to be fully contained Wednesday night is still burning, but authorities expect to have it out early today.
The fire was 90% contained as of 8 a.m., said Capt. Greg McKeown of the Orange County Fire Authority. No homes have been evacuated and no structures damaged. There was a minor eye injury to one firefighter last night.
There are about 65 firefighters battling the blaze, which was reported at about 10 p.m. Tuesday, McKeown said.
Firefighters are currently in mop-up and are checking for remaining hot spots, McKeown said. There are no helicopters on the scene.
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/ 11/26/2009newsdeskinternational
/ 07/28/2010Calif. wildfires burn 30-plus homes, threaten 150
A wildfire that’s destroyed at least 30 homes near the Mojave Desert is threatening an entire town and firefighters say they’re worried that afternoon winds will kick up the flames.
Kern County fire Engineer Dustin Allegranza says crews worked through the night to burn out a firebreak ahead of the 1,230-acre blaze but it’s completely uncontained Wednesday morning.
An earlier report had said the fire 10 miles south of Tehachapi and about 70 miles north of Los Angeles was 25 percent contained. Allegranza says winds are mild and about 250 firefighters are on the scene.
But he says about 150 homes in the community of Old West Ranch remain threatened and crews are concerned that gusty winds will stir up in the afternoon as they did when the fire erupted Tuesday.
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/ 07/29/2010Raging Russian fires destroy homes, people flee
Raging forest fires encircled a southern Russian city and tore through provincial villages Thursday, forcing mass evacuations as Moscow suffered through a record, weeks-long heat wave and smog cloud caused by peat-bog fires.
http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?category=International&id=20100729/5df8023c-429c-44f5-8ef5-4fb42c454157
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/ 08/03/2010Oregon wildfire threatens homes
An Oregon wildfire has burned more than 1,000 acres in the Deschutes National Forest and is threatening homes, authorities said.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/08/03/Oregon-wildfire-threatens-homes/UPI-52351280858915/
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/ 08/27/2010Homes evacuated overnight near Montana wildfire
Wildfires drove early morning evacuations in western Montana and brought dozens of fresh firefighters to Washington state on Friday as crews battled dozens of blazes throughout the northwest.
http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-us-12-l2&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20100827%2F0321.htm&sc=1110
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/ 08/27/2010Wash. wildfires destroy 2 homes, threaten others
Wildfires fanned by strong winds burned two homes in northeast Washington and threatened dozens more Thursday, but officials said no injuries were reported.
http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-us-12-l18&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20100827%2F9945.htm&sc=1110