2nd fire threatens north L.A. County
By Teresa
[email protected]
September 28, 2005, 7:15 p.m.
A fast moving fire that broke out in Chatsworth Wednesday shortly before 2 p.m. had spread to 1,000 acres by early evening, feeding on brush as it burned into Ventura County.
It was one of five fires, fanned by Santa Ana Winds, that had fire personnel battling blazes from Somis to the Los Angeles County border.
Wind advisories were upgraded to high wind warnings this afternoon, said Bonnie Bartling, a National Weather Service spokeswoman. Winds were 13 mph in Simi Valley with gusts of up to 32 mph. In Camarillo, the winds were 31 mph with 40 mph gusts. Inland, the winds were 22 mph with 40 mph gusts.
The warnings expired by 3 p.m. and winds were expected to be gone by Wednesday night, she said.
As the evening darkness approached, more than 700 firefighters were battling the blaze that threatened about 70 buildings near eastern Simi Valley. The fire started about 1 p.m. on the north side of the highway near Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
Highway 118 was closed as flames leaped from one side of the freeway to the other, said Inspector Ron Harlason of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Highway 118 remained closed eastbound at Kuehner Drive and westbound at Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
The fire, aided by Santa Ana winds, burned in a south west direction toward Santa Susana Pass.
Earlier, in Simi Valley, as firetrucks on Highway 118 raced eastward toward the blaze, other motorists were forced to leave the highway and tried to find other routes.
"Traffic is very heavy now," said Ed McNally, sitting in a wheelchair on front of Clarion Commons Assisted Living and Memory Center on Los Angeles Avenue, with his friend Tony Hernandez, as they watched stop-and-go traffic crawling past.
The street was clogged with cars and trucks barely moving after the freeway was closed down.
In the east, smoke billowed over the mountains.
Laura Rice of Simi Valley, who works in the transportation office of Moorpark Unified School District, said she and other employees were sent home early because of the fire.
She said back-to-school night and football practice were cancelled at Simi Valley High School, where her two daughters, Kristin, 17, and Melissa, 15, attend.
She said the blaze reminded her of the devastating 2003 brushfire.
"We had the same fire two years ago on Oct. 5," she said. "It was the same fire on the other side of the hills. It’s just moving so fast. It’s always like this with the wind."
Mitchell Lawson of Simi Valley said he was on his way to work at Deluxe Media Management in Burbank, where he works as a videotape editor, but was told to get off the freeway at Kuehner Drive.
His supervisor said to stay home.
"I know this is fire season. I just hope and pray our firefighters save our hills and their own lives," Lawson said. "It’s just how things are out here — fires and floods."
As some residents stood at the edge of Los Angeles Avenue and watched the smoke cloud, a driver stuck in traffic rolled down the window of her silver Toyota.
"Excuse me," she said. "Is there any way to get to L.A. from here?’’
Dennis Goar of Simi Valley said he was hiking and saw several homes burning.
"I’ve seen, myself, several structures burning at the intersection of Box Canyon and Santa Susana," Goar said.
"I was up hiking at Corriganville Park. I got done hiking, and saw the smoke. I was up on some big rocks and kind of looked over the valley almost, and saw some houses. One stands a couple of stories. I feel for the people because there’s nothing they can do about it. That’s where they live."
Some residents in the Santa Susana Knolls, where power was intermittent, evacuated their homes.
Employees at Boeing’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory were evacuated from the rocket test site in the mid-afternoon and the lab’s on-site nine-person fire department went to work, said Boeing spokeswoman Inger Hodgson.
"It was definitely smoky," Hodgson said. "Many of us started leaving at 3:15 p.m. Shortly after that there was an announcement to leave."
In the Lake Manor neighborhood on the Los Angeles County side of Box Canyon and resident Todd Doherty debated whether or not he would leave. By 4:25 p.m., he was done debating and had started packing, gathering up his two daughters, three dogs and three cats.
"I’ve only caught one cat," he said. "It’s really coming down Box Canyon. The smoke is changing colors. It’s now a ruby red."
In the city of Simi Valley, the emergency operations center was activated and personnel from the police department, city departments, school district and recreation and park district converged at police headquarters to quickly respond if the fire heads into the city.
"Is there a plan in place?" City Manager Mike Sedell asked. "Yes, there is a plan in place."
The Red Cross has set up temporary shelter for those displaced by the fire at the Rancho Santa Susana Community Center at 5005 East Los Angeles Ave.
The day began with a fire on Browns Canyon Road.
Jan Eddy, manager of Where Trails Begin, a horse boarding facility on Browns Canyon Road, got a wake up call at 5 a.m. from a friend who heard about the fire.
Although the brush fire was about four or five miles from the ranch, Eddy was at the facility by 5:30 a.m. to check on 80 horses.
"We have trailers here and a lot of people to help in case we do have to move," she said as she waved to firefighters from the Ventura County Fire Department who whizzed by in their trucks. "We do have a plan just in case."
Eddy said in case of emergencies, the animals could be boarded temporarily at Pierce College.
Although Eddy, other ranchers and nearby residents were not asked to evacuate, the 65 mph Santa Ana winds was a concern for fire fighters.
"That's why we are going to have crews out here all day to work on any hot spots," said LA County Fire Department Inspector Jason Hurd. "Due to the high winds and low humidity, we will have strike teams staged in Calabasas and Santa Clarita."
In Moorpark, reports of a fire burning near the college came in at 12:07 p.m. Crews found flames burning the hillsides behind homes on Pecan Avenue and moving toward Chapman Place and Marquette Street, said Ventura County Fire Department Spokesman Joe Luna.
By 12:14 p.m. 3 acres had burned and by 2 p.m. the fire had been knocked down but had burned 30 acres and damaged two fences.
About 200 firefighters, aided by 16 trucks, two water tenders, two helicopters and two bulldozers ,worked successfully to keep the fire from crossing Happy Camp Road.
Keith Lawrence was mowing the grass at the home on Marquette Street in Moorpark he shares with his family, when he noticed smoke in the air. Family friends who live 10 houses away called to tell him to get out of the house. Flames had already moved down a hill toward their back yard.
"My dad’s still up there right now with the firefighters," said Lawrence, 20, who grabbed the family’s three dogs and left.
For some residents, the blaze, which burned in an avocado orchard, was reminiscent of the wildfire that burned through Fillmore, Santa Paula, Moorpark and the length of Simi Valley two years ago.
"This scares you because you know how bad it can be," Moorpark resident Lana Wick said, as she cradled bottles of water, while watching a blackened, smoldering hillside across from Pecan Avenue. "The firefighters did a remarkable job that day."
Moorpark College canceled classes Wednesday night. The college closed all student service offices tonight.
The college is expected to reopen on schedule on Thursday.
The college hopes the closures will help reduce the traffic on nearby roads that are needed by emergency vehicles after fires broke out earlier today across the county.
"Although the fires are at least eight to 10 miles away, we are concerned for our faculty and students who would have to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic and road closures and would add to the traffic congestion as they try to come to campus," Moorpark College President Eva Conrad said.
Another afternoon fire ignited about 2 p.m. near Somis burning about 10 acres of brush.
The blaze ignited in the 6800 block of Coyote Canyon Road and was contained by Ventura County Firefighters while multiple fires burned in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
No structures were threatened when the fire burned.
A containment time was not available, said Michele Faina, fire spokeswoman, said.
Wind advisories were upgraded to high wind warnings this afternoon, said Bonnie Bartling, a National Weather Service spokeswoman.
Winds were 13 mph in Simi Valley with gusts of up to 32 mph. In Camarillo, the winds were 31 mph with 40 mph gusts. Inland, the winds were 22 mph with 40 mph gusts.
The warnings expired by 3 p.m. and winds were expected to be gone by Wednesday night, she said.
It will be another warm day today, Bartling said, "but we won’t have the offshore with the Santa Anas."
Temperatures will be in the 70s along the coast, and in the 80s inland.
Fires are so devistating.
Because my mom was stuck on the freeway, and I now work in that town, I went to check on the house. There were police SUV's and about 3 or 4 dumptrucks at at the on/off ramps. Helicopters were everywhere!
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