Wildfire threatens thousands of homes
More than 33,000 acres charred in Santa Clarita Valley.
Windwhipped LOS ANGELES — flames raged overnight in the steep, rugged mountains of the Santa Clarita Valley, charring more than 33,000 acres and threatening thousands of homes.
The Sand fire, named for Sand Canyon, continued to burn Monday in the hills toward Acton, prompting the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to order the evacuation of at least 10,000 homes.
“This is a big animal,” said Mike Wakoski, a spokesman for the multiagency wildfire effort. “Containment of the fire is going to be slow.”
A landscape of desiccated fuel has created explosive conditions for a fire averaging 10,000 football fields a day, Wakoski said.
A shift in the weather was not likely to help firefighters, although it wouldn’t hinder them either, said National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Rorke.
Weakening winds, an increase in humidity and a slight drop in temperatures were expected Monday, Rorke said, while the slight chance of thunderstorms loomed over Southern California.
When the massive blaze erupted Friday along the 14 Freeway at Sand Canyon, 30to-50-mph winds fanned the flames on hillsides carpeted with tinder-like chaparral, pushing them into the Angeles National Forest.
Mandatory evacuations were still in place for about 1,500 residents in parts of Sand and Placerita canyons, as well as for others along Little Tujunga Canyon Road.
As water-dropping helicopters worked overnight, the firefight got a significant boost Monday: the number of firefighters increased from 1,600 to nearly 3,000, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The fire remains only 10 percent contained.
It’s burning so quickly and so rapidly that our firefighters are getting in and doing a lot of great work, but to get in and do some of that stuff safely is very difficult,” said Justin Correll, an engine fire captain in San Bernardino National Forest.
One fatality has been reported. Firefighters found a man’s body inside a burned car parked in a driveway.
Bruce Sanborn and Suzi Fox learned they had lost the house they shared on Little Tujunga Canyon Road after seeing its charred shell on the Saturday news. The couple had evacuated to Hart High School in Santa Clarita the day before. During a trip to a store, Sanborn saw images of their burned property flash across a television.
A woman who learned of the couple’s plight contacted them on Facebook and offered up her home while she was away on vacation.