MORE EVACUATIONS ORDERED
Some residents ordered to leave as blaze nears Juniper Hills
Carmen Green exercises Thursday at Griffith Observatory. The Bobcat fire continued to affect air quality in the region Thursday and spurred evacuations in parts of the Antelope Valley.
More than a week after it started burning through the Angeles National Forest, the Bobcat fire opened a new dangerous front as it barreled toward homes in the Antelope Valley on Thursday, prompting new evacuations and further straining exhausted firefighters.
For 12 days, the fire has menaced the San Gabriel Mountains, including foothill neighborhoods in Monrovia, Arcadia and other cities, as well as the Mt. Wilson Observatory, where a team of firefighters is standing guard to protect the historic structures.
But Thursday, officials issued evacuation orders for areas toward the fire’s northern edge after the blaze jumped Highway 2 in the Angeles National Forest, fueled by canyon winds, officials said.
Evacuation warnings were issued Thursday evening on a different side
of the fire for Wrightwood and Pinon Hills in San Bernardino County.
As of Thursday night, the fire had grown to about 55,000 acres, with containment at 9%.
Residents in parts of the Antelope Valley were ordered to evacuate as the fire moved toward Juniper Hills and burned downhill toward Devil’s Punchbowl county park, officials said.
The order applies to Juniper Hills, Devil’s Punchbowl and Paradise Springs, including the area east of Devil’s Punchbowl Road, south of Big Pines Highway, north of Big Rock Creek and west of Jackson Lake, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. Residents in the surrounding areas remain under an evacuation warning.
About 60 deputies have been dispatched to the area, along with some California Highway Patrol officers, to help facilitate evacuations, said Capt. Andy Berg of the
Sheriff’s Department’s San Dimas station.
Fire officials say residents who have been ordered to evacuate should quickly gather family members and pets and head outside the evacuation zones.
Los Angeles County Fire Capt. David Dantic said crews knew the fire was moving north, “but it had more activity than we thought” on Thursday.
The Bobcat fire, which started Sept. 6, has grown steadily in multiple directions. Officials say the spread is caused by bonedry vegetation and rugged topography that makes it hard to fight the fire.
“Our canyons have a tendency to run north and south, so if a 15- to 20-mph wind reaches that, it’s enough — with the driest fuels we’ve had in a long time — to really drive the fire,” Angeles National Forest spokesman Andrew Mitchell said Thursday.
Nearly 1,300 personnel have been assigned to the blaze, and crews have gained some control over its southern end — which was a top priority for days because of its proximity to several foothill communities.
“Right now, we feel like we’ve closed the ‘front door’ of this fire,” Mitchell said, referring to the southern perimeter.
Evacuation orders for portions of Arcadia and Sierra Madre were lifted Wednesday, although residents are being urged to stay vigilant and alert should fire conditions change.
Similar evacuation warnings remain in place for Monrovia, Bradbury, Altadena, Duarte and Pasadena. Los Angeles County Fire Department Deputy Chief Anthony Whittle warned residents in the foothills that even though the risk to those areas has lessened, the evacuation warning still means people need to be prepared to leave.
“What we want the community to understand is the evacuation warning means that you are now a partner in protecting life,” he said.
No structures have been lost, and no civilians had been injured as of Thursday night. Jerry McGowan, an incident commander for the Bobcat fire, said one firefighter had suffered a separated shoulder and a few others had minor injuries.
The top priority for Thursday remained the continued protection of the Mt. Wilson Observatory as well as a huge spot fire in the northeast where the blaze jumped Highway 2 in the Angeles National Forest, Mitchell said.
Mt. Wilson is not only an important piece of history, but also home to several broadcast towers. Crews kept the blaze from reaching the observatory Tuesday, when flames came within 500 feet of the structure, but officials say they are not out of the woods yet.
“It made a significant run [Wednesday] when the fire hit a string of conifer trees and started pushing up to the lookout in Skyline Park,” Mitchell said, adding that he saw flames as high as 30 feet.
The fire is also showing growth on the north side in Cooper Canyon, which is expanding into the Pleasant View Wilderness, and near the Crystal Lake area and the West Fork, where officials said there is heavy fuel.
The Bobcat fire, along with the El Dorado fire in San Bernardino and a slew of fires in Central and Northern California, Oregon and Washington, is also contributing to dreadful air quality in Southern California.
Smoke advisories were extended through Thursday — the 11th straight day for such air quality alerts — and forecasts for the area range from unhealthy to very unhealthy, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Fire officials don’t expect full containment of the Bobcat fire for at least six weeks, an issue that could be complicated by shifting weather in the coming weeks.