In Santa Clarita, the call for widespread evacuations brought frustration among fire officials as some residents refused the orders.
Advertisement
The Wyoming fire in a remote region burned almost 11 square miles and forced the evacuations of 900 people but no homes had burned by Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
Firefighters faced drier conditions and temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) again on Tuesday, but winds remained calmer, according to U.S. Forest Service spokesman Nathan Judy.
The fire command says the huge blaze in northern Los Angeles County is now 40 percent surrounded.
An autopsy was pending to determine the cause of the man’s death, which was being classified as an accident.
The fire exploded over the weekend like a “crazy storm”, said Kara Franklin, who said sand driven by heavy winds hit her in the face as she tried to get a horse and donkey into a trailer so she could tow the animals away.
“We wanted to see more of the ocean”, said Phoenix-area tourist Jim Newby, who drove along the highway with his family Tuesday.
The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 30 square miles (78 square kilometers) but was just 10 percent contained. The overall footprint of the conflagration was little changed, with most of the additional acreage that burned since Monday coming from newly ignited pockets of vegetation within the fire zone.
About 300 miles to the north, a smaller fire raging since Friday between Big Sur and the scenic coastal town of Carmel-by-the-Sea continued to threaten some 1,650 properties after destroying 20 homes on Sunday.
Officials estimated about 20,000 residents of 10,000 dwellings were ordered out of the area and away from the massive blaze that burned 35,000 acres, destroyed at least 18 homes and possibly killed one man.
Evacuation centers at Hart High School, located at 24825 N. Newhall Avenue in Santa Clarita, and Highland High School, located at 39055 25th Street West in Palmdale remained open, according to the InciWeb page.
“The flames were right behind our backyard”, he said.
Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday declared a local state of emergency for the Sand Fire.
The Escondido Canyon Road and Soledad Canyon Road exits of the northbound Antelope Valley Freeway are closed, as are the Crown Valley Road exits of the northbound and southbound 14 Freeway.
The fire also charred areas of the Sable Ranch, which was a popular shooting location for film and television shows.
Advertisement
A week of triple digit temperatures awaited the army of some 3,000 firefighters battling flames in rugged hills and canyons. Train service will operate between Via Princessa and Los Angeles only, Metrolink officials said.
