Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Two Wildfires Near Los Angeles Explode Overnight, Hundreds Evacuated

Eric Chaney
Published: June 21,2016
A pair of wildfires are growing northeast of Los Angeles amidst searing heat, and one of those blazes has forced evacuations in the suburbs.
The Fish Fire near Duarte grew rapidly from 500 acres on Monday to more than 3,000 Tuesday morning, according to the US Forest Service. Evacuation orders went out for nearly 700 homes in town, including homes near Encanto Parkway and Brookridge Road, the Los Angeles Times reported.
According to Fox 11, the fire began as a result of a fatal car wreck on Highway 39 near Morris Reservoir.
"There was a collision there, a vehicle went over the side (of the road),'' California Highway Patrol Officer Alex Rubio told the station. The car was on fire when officers responded, he said, but no information about the victim was available, and the crash remains under investigation.
ABC7 Eyewitness News ✔ @ABC7
FIRE UPDATE: Brush fire may have been sparked by vehicle that went off the roadway http://abc7.com/live 

Duarte City Councilwoman Margaret Finlay told KTLA her parents have lived in the neighborhood near where the fire is burning for nearly 40 years.
“This area behind me hasn’t burned for 35 years, so there’s a lot of dry tinder out there and it’s certainly burning now,” Finlay said.
In all, at least 100 homes have been evacuated, according to Southern California Public Radio, and firefighters face challenging conditions.
"Temperatures in Azusa, California, are around 110 degrees this afternoon. In addition, sustained winds are 10-15 mph with gusts 20-25 mph," said weather.com meteorologist Brian Donegan. "Both the heat and the breeze are helping spread the fire. Gusts could still be around 15 mph overnight, but tomorrow the winds should diminish to 5-10 mph."
The second wildfire, named the Reservoir fire, has burned at least 1,500 acres of land since it was first spotted at 11 a.m. local time Monday morning, according to InciWeb. More than 300 fire personnel are on the scene of the fire, and according to the Los Angeles Times, residents in the Mountain Cove community have been ordered to evacuate.
San Gabriel Canyon was also evacuated, and Highway 39 was closed due to the blaze, InciWeb also said.
(MORE: Four Hikers Die in Extreme Arizona Heat)
Francine Orr/LATimes ✔ @francineorr
Smoke from the fire above Azusa, Ca is visible from Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.

Smoke from the two fires prompted a smoke advisory Monday for the  Inland Empire region. The South Coast Air Quality Management District told CBS Los Angeles that smoke from the blazes was drifting east toward Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where air quality reached unhealthy levels.
“We’ve got to have everyone inside because it’s so bad," Megan Stevenson, who works at a summer camp in Fontana, told the station. "Trying to keep the kids safe and out of unhealthy situations.”
Other blazes have burned wide swaths across Arizona and New Mexico, where firefighters also faced blistering temperatures.
In central New Mexico, a 28-square-mile fire that erupted last week and destroyed 24 homes in the Manzano Mountains south of Albuquerque showed signs of slowing down. Higher humidity has allowed crews to strengthen lines around the fire, and some evacuees would be allowed to return home on Tuesday.
In eastern Arizona, a fire doubled to nearly 42 square miles and led officials to warn a community of 300 residents to prepare to evacuate. The blaze on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation southwest of Show Low was not moving quickly toward the community of Cedar Creek because of sparse vegetation and shifting winds.
MORE: Wildfires Burn Across the West
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