Juliet Kinikin said Sunday there was panic as the sky became dark with smoke and flames moved closer to her home a day earlier in the Sand Canyon area of Los Angeles County.
Advertisement
The fire near Santa Clarita, first reported on Friday afternoon, has forced at least 1,500 residents to evacuate their homes and destroyed at least 18 homes, the Los Angeles county fire department said in a statement.
A firefighting army converged Monday on a risky wildfire burning in the mountainous northern fringe of metropolitan Los Angeles after it wildly expanded and forced thousands of people from their homes during the weekend.
At least 18 dwellings were destroyed over the weekend, and authorities have reported one fatality, an unidentified man found on Saturday evening in a burned-out vehicle parked in the driveway of a home.
“We have to stick back, let it do what it wants to and attack it where we can”. Still only 10 percent contained, authorities pleaded with residents to heed evacuation orders.
Since Sunday the blaze engulfed an additional 11,000 acres, according to the latest figures from fire managers.
“We feel that that is preventable”, Osby said.
Of three evacuation centers taking in large animals, one has reached capacity, while the Pierce College and Antelope Valley Fairgrounds locations were still accepting them, as of the last Los Angeles Fire Department update late on Monday morning.
Smoke and ash from the fire cast a pall over neighboring Los Angeles.
A tortoise trying to escape the Sand Fire in Santa Clarita was found along the street, fleeing as quickly as he could.
A man’s body was found in a burned-out auto as the inferno blazed through neighborhoods, and homicide detectives were working to determine the cause of death.
On Saturday, he got the devastating news that his home had been burned to the ground in the raging blaze that destroyed 17 other residences, scorched more than 33,000 acres and forced thousands from their homes.
“We’re pretty terrified”, said Jenelle Quinn-Vouniozos, who was evacuating with her family.
Fire trucks lined streets of vacant and almost vacant subdivisions as helicopters dropped water and planes unleashed ribbons of red fire retardant to protect homes.
Although Kellar is concerned, he also said he is very confident and very appreciative of everyone who is making an effort to stop the fire from spreading and from burning down homes.
The blaze has largely burned in unpopulated forest areas. About 10,000 homes had been under evacuation orders.
Three U.S. Forest Service firefighters were battling blazes elsewhere as the Sand Fire tore a path of destruction through forests, neighborhoods and homes. “When law enforcement say evacuate, that means evacuate”.
Evacuated pets can be taken to county shelters in Lancaster, Agoura, Castaic and Palmdale or to trailers next to evacuation centers.
Advertisement
Kellum and his wife, Helen, teared up as they recalled the joy of finding out the house they loved was still standing. So Brandon Opliger of Hemet set up a GoFundMe page to help Toscano, who learned his home had been destroyed on Saturday, recover his losses.
