Contained

Calif. getting control of deadly blazes

Containment of the deadly Sandalwood fire in Calimesa, Calif., jumped to 94% Monday, but residents of the charred mobile home park where two people died remained under mandatory evacuation orders.

“The sheriffs are still parked in front and not allowing us back in. They said chemical carcinogens are on the items that burned,” Kayleen Schmidt-Reynolds, 25, a resident of the Villa Calimesa Mobile Home Park, told the Daily News.

Schmidt-Reynolds was home Thursday with her two toddler sons when a fire allegedly caused by trash burning in a garbage truck quickly spread to the mobile home park amid strong winds and single-digit humidity.

She escaped by running on foot with her children in a stroller as she yelled to her neighbors to evacuate.

“My house is a total loss. I’ve seen it on the news. I don’t even think the refrigerator is there,” she said Monday. “I think once the fire hit my house, it hit the gas line and everything just exploded.”

The Sandalwood fire, which claimed two lives, was reported at 77% contained a day earlier.

Both deaths in the Sandalwood fire were in the mobile home park in Calimesa. Overall, the Sandalwood blaze devoured more than 70 homes and burned more than 500 acres.

Lois Arvikson, 89, reportedly called her son to say she was evacuating her mobile home but never made it out. Schmidt-Reynolds recalled Arvikson as a friendly face in the tight-knit neighborhood.

“She always waved and smiled at my kids. She was very nice,” the young mom said.

“All I can say is, I’m just glad to be alive. I got out with my boys, and we’re getting so much help from the community,” she said. “So many people have reached out with bags and bags of clothes.”

The identity of the second victim in the Sandalwood blaze wasn’t immediately released.

Meanwhile, the Saddleridge fire in nearby Los Angeles was 43% contained Monday morning with 17 structures destroyed, 58 structures damaged and all evacuation orders lifted, officials said.

That fire was reported 41% contained on Sunday.

A man in his 50s suffered a heart attack while speaking with firefighters as Saddleridge flames spread west from Sylmar through several neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley.