Evacuations in L.A. as wildfires rage in West
More than 1,000 firefighters battle flames threatening hillside neighbourhoods
LOS ANGELES— Smoke filled the sky and ash rained down across Los Angeles Sunday from a destructive wildfire that the mayor said was the largest in city history — one of several blazes that sent thousands fleeing homes across the U.S. West during a blistering holiday weekend heat wave.
In Oregon, crews were rescuing 140 hikers forced to spend the night in the woods after fire broke out along the popular Columbia River Gorge trail. Search and rescue crews airdropped supplies on Saturday as flames prevented the hikers’ escape. Wildfires also burned in a 2,700year-old grove of giant sequoia trees near Yosemite National Park, forced evacuations in Glacier National Park and drove people from homes in parts of the West struggling with blazing temperatures.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti declared an emergency and asked the governor to do the same after the wildfire destroyed three homes and threatened hillside neighbourhoods.
More than a thousand firefighters battled flames that chewed through nearly 20 square kilometres of brush-covered mountains as author- ities issued evacuation orders for homes in Los Angeles, Burbank and Glendale. Temperatures were in the 35 C to 37 C range but crews got a break from increased humidity and winds that calmed to less than 8 km/h, Los Angeles Fire Capt. Ralph Terrazas said.
“That can change in a moment’s notice and the winds can accelerate very quickly,” he told reporters Sunday. “There is a lot of fuel out there left to burn,” he said.
Forecasters said more heat could be expected when remnants of Tropical Storm Lidia move north from Mexico’s Baja California during the weekend.