San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
HOMES DESTROYED AS WINDS PUSH WILDFIRE INTO DESERT
New evacuation orders issued as Bobcat fire northeast of L.A. churns toward foothill communities
Strong afternoon winds intensified a wildfire burning for nearly two weeks in mountains northeast of Los Angeles, prompting authorities to issue new evacuation orders Saturday for desert communities that lost some homes a day earlier.
Meanwhile, officials were investigating the death of a firefighter on the lines of another Southern California wildfire that erupted earlier this month from a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby’s gender.
The death occurred Thursday in San Bernardino National Forest as crews battled the El Dorado Fire about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement.
In northern Los Angeles County, firefighters focused on protecting homes Saturday as increasingly erratic winds pushed the Bobcat fire toward foothill communities in the Antelope Valley after churning all the way across the San Gabriel Mountains. An evacuation order was issued Saturday for all residents in that zone as the fire burned toward Wrightwood, a mountain community of 4,000, said fire spokesman Andrew Mitchell.
The fire grew to 142 square miles on Saturday when winds pushed the flames into Juniper Hills.
Some residents fled as blowing embers sparked spot fires, hitting some homes but sparing others. Bridget Lensing feared her family’s house was lost on Friday after seeing on Twitter that a neighbor’s house three doors down went up in flames.
The house stood when she made her way back Saturday afternoon but her neighbors’ houses in the remote community were burned to the ground.
“Everything around us is gone,” she said.
The extent of the destruction wasn’t immediately clear. But, Los Angeles County park officials said the blaze destroyed the nature center at Devil’s Punchbowl Natural Area, a geological wonder that attracts some 130,000 visitors per year.
No injuries were reported. On the south side of the Bobcat fire, firefighters continued to protect Mount Wilson, which overlooks greater Los Angeles and has a historic observatory founded more than a century ago and numerous broadcast antennas serving Southern California.
The fire that started Sept. 6 had already doubled in size over the last week. It is 15 percent contained.
Officials said the fire has been challenging because it is burning in areas that have not burned in decades, and because the firestorms across California have limited resources.
There were about 1,660 firefighters on the lines.
The name of the firefighter killed in the nearby El Dorado Fire was being withheld until family members are notified. The body was escorted down the mountain in a procession of first-responder vehicles. No other information was released about the circumstances of the death.
A statement from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said it was the 26th death involving wildfires besieging the state.
To the east, a new blaze sparked by a vehicle that caught fire was growing in wilderness outside Palm Springs.
To the north, a fire burning for nearly a month in Sequoia National Forest roared to life again Friday and prompted evacuation orders for the central California mountain communities of Silver City and Mineral King.
Throughout the Northwest, also beseiged by wildfires, firefighters welcomed cooler weather and rain, as well as much-improved air quality and visibility that would allow some to survey fire activity with drones.