California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighters battled a almost 3-square-mile blaze in rugged mountains north of the majestic Big Sur region on Saturday, calling in Bay Area police departments to help control the fire. At least 1 firefighter suffered a minor injury and 1 structure was destroyed in the fire.
Advertisement
“We were experiencing 50- to 100-foot flame links running across these ridges and down these slopes and doing the kind of things we normally expect to see at 2 pm”, Dennis Cross, battalion chief of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said. A middle school in Carmel-by-the-Sea was readied as an evacuation center. Residents in the area should be prepared to evacuate if they are directed to do so by authorities. Residents of Sand Canyon and Canyon Country are on standby in case the wildfire shifts.
Firefighters battle the blaze as temperatures in the area are expected to reach a high of 105 degrees Saturday.
Southern California firefighters faced another day of triple-digit heat from a dome of high pressure over the region, and while Central Coast temperatures were more moderate, conditions included winds and low humidity.
Being in the fifth year of a drought, there is dry vegetation in the area that hasn’t burned in five years.
“When we talk about extreme fire behavior”, Carol Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service told the Los Angeles Times, “this is what we mean”. Almost 30 helicopters and eight fixed-winged aircraft have been deployed to try and stop the spreading blaze that is burning through chaparral and brush, according to the InciWeb site that tracks wildfires.
Fighting the fire – named for the area’s Sand Canyon – is a challenge, said Nathan Judy, fire information officer with the Angeles National Forest, because of the rugged terrain and the 10- to 20-mph winds blowing the fire toward the populated part of the county. Freeway 14 remained open but some lanes and many nearby roads were closed. The freeway is now open in both directions but that is subject to change based on fire behavior.
Metrolink reported that service on its Antelope Valley line was halted at the Via Princessa station for about an hour.
The sheriff’s office posted a list of road closures. The National Weater Service told the Los Angeles Times temperatures in a days-long heat wave were expected to spike Saturday up to 106 degrees in the Santa Clarita valley where the fire is burning, making for even more hard conditions.
Advertisement
The fire in northern Los Angeles County grew to more than 8½ square miles, darkening skies with smoke that spread across the city and suburbs, reducing the sun to an orange disk at times.
