Southern Calif. fire roars back

MALIBU, Calif. — Southern California’s huge wildfire roared to life again yesterday in a mountain wilderness area, but in a sign of significant progress against the blaze, more neighborhoods were reopened to thousands of residents who fled last week.

A massive plume rose suddenly at midmorning in the Santa Monica Mountains near the community of Lake Sherwood, prompting authorities to send numerous aircraft to drop fire retardant and water on the blaze.

Forecasters had warned of ongoing fire danger due to persistent Santa Ana winds, the withering, dry gusts that sweep out of the interior toward the coast, pushing back moist ocean breezes.

But, except for an apart- ment building that burned overnight in coastal Malibu, there was little sign of fire activity elsewhere in the vast fire zone west of Los Angeles.

Officials tempered optimism with caution, saying there were hotspots and pockets of unburned vegetation.

“We are not out of the woods yet. We still have some incredibly tough conditions ahead of us,” Ventura County fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said.

The death toll from the Woolsey fire stood at two, a pair of adults found last week in a car overtaken by flames. They have not been identified.

The number of homes and other structures destroyed was 435. Damage assessment was continuing, with crews having to gain access to canyon areas on foot.

“That number is going to rise significantly,” Los Angeles County fire Chief Daryl Osby said.

The fire has burned more than 80 percent of National Parks Service land in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, officials said.

The fire has grown to 150 square miles but containment also increased to 35 percent.

Forecasts called for the Santa Ana winds to lighten today and tomorrow.

At least 42 people were confirmed dead in a wildfire that obliterated the Northern California town of Paradise, making it the deadliest wildfire in recorded state history. The search for bodies continued.

The cause of the Southern California fires remained under investigation.

AP FLAMING: A large wildfire plume from a recent flareup near Lake Sherwood, Calif., is visible from Thousand Oaks, Calif., yesterday. Despite the flareup, some neighborhoods were reopened to evacuated residents, including Rachael Bailey, below, in the Oak Forest Mobile Estates in Westlake Village.

TNS