LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. — Residents of about 500 homes have been urged to evacuate in La Canada Flintridge, where a fast-moving wildfire has crested a ridge and is burning downhill towards neighborhoods.
Forest Service fire spokeswoman Diane Cahir said residents were told around 10:30 p.m. Thursday night, as the flames made their way slowly down from the San Gabriel Mountains.
Cahir says residents have been told to get their cars packed and be ready to go.
The fire kicked up late Thursday afternoon as the blaze blackened at least 500 acres of heavy brush.
Three other fires are burning in Southern California, including one that destroyed structures in the ritzy seaside city of Rancho Palos Verdes.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wildfires erupted up and down California Thursday as a late summer siege of heat and low humidity levels made conditions ripe for conflagrations.
Structures could be seen burning in the wealthy communities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula south of Los Angeles, while suburbs on the foothills to the north of the city were threatened by a slumbering fire that suddenly roared to life in the evening hours.
Dozens of homes were evacuated in Rancho Palos Verdes, Los Angeles County fire Inspector Steve Zermeno said. TV news footage showed structures on fire and at least one entirely engulfed in flames. Fire officials could not confirm if any structures or homes had been damaged or destroyed.
In Monterey County, in the central coastal region of the state, 100 homes were evacuated about four miles from the community of Soledad. The fire had consumed more than 2,000 acres of steep grasslands, or more than 3 square miles, since it was reported Thursday afternoon, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Capt. James Dellamonica said.The blaze was zero percent contained.
The other major battles in Southern California were in the San Gabriel Mountains as firefighters struggled to keep flames from topping ridges and surging into a wider area of the sprawling Angeles National Forest northeast of downtown Los Angeles, where the temperature hit 99 degrees before noon.
The largest of two fires, which spread lung-burning haze over much of metropolitan Los Angeles, was 45 percent contained after burning across 1,850 acres, or nearly 3 square miles, said Capt. Jim Wilkins of the U.S. Forest Service.
Nearly 1,000 firefighters aided by bulldozers and a fleet of water- and fire retardant-dropping aircraft were concentrating on the fire's northeastern edge.
Wilkins said the area is so steep that "it's almost to the point where you need ropes" for firefighters to reach it.
The heat and very low humidity — which saps moisture from vegetation — were not helping.
"When you have all of those factors in alignment, it just burns explosively," Wilkins said.
On Wednesday, about 70 people were ordered evacuated from a trailer park and private campground along a fork of the San Gabriel River, Wilkins said.
The fire, believed caused by human action began Tuesday near a dam and reservoir in San Gabriel Canyon, a half-dozen miles above the city of Azusa.
A second fire about 20 miles to the west surged in the dry conditions Thursday north of the foothill suburb of La Canada Flintridge and sent another massive plume of smoke above Los Angeles.
The fire grew from 30 to 500 acres and containment was reduced from 20 to just 5 percent, Forest Service spokesman Robert Brady said. Evacuations were being considered, but had not been ordered as of Thursday evening, Forest Service spokesman Bruce Quintelier said.
Another fire, in the San Bernardino National Forest in Riverside County, had blackened 600 acres by Thursday evening and prompted authorities to issue a voluntary evacuation of 12 homes in the area near Hemet, said Anabele Cornejo of the San Bernardino National Forest Fire Information. She said about five people had left and that the fire was 5 percent contained.
Weather plagued fire crews as temperatures in some areas rose toward triple digits and humidity levels headed downward. For a second day, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning of extreme fire conditions for many of California's central and southern mountain ranges.
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