Wildfire makes menacing advance near Los Angeles...

LOS ANGELES – A deadly wildfire that has blackened a wide swath of tinder-dry forest around Los Angeles made another menacing advance Monday, surging toward thousands of suburban homes and a vital mountaintop broadcasting complex while trapping five people inside a smoky canyon.

Fire crews battling the blaze in the Angeles National Forest tried desperately to beat back the flames and prayed for weather conditions to ease. The fire was the largest of at least eight burning across California after days of triple-digit temperatures and low humidity.

The flames scorched 164 square miles of brush and threatened more than 12,000 homes, but the lack of wind kept them from driving explosively into the hearts of the dense suburbs northeast of Los Angeles.

"It's burning everywhere," U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Dianne Cahir said. "When it gets into canyons that haven't burned in numerous years, it takes off. If you have any insight into the good Lord upstairs, put in a request."

Five people who refused to evacuate threatened areas reported they were trapped at a ranch near Gold Creek, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. A sheriff's helicopter was unable to immediately reach them because of intense fire activity, Whitmore said, but would try after the flames passed.

"What this says is, 'Listen, listen, listen,'" Whitmore said. "Those people were told to get out two days ago, and now we are putting our people in danger to get them out."

Over the weekend, three people who refused to evacuate were burned when they were overrun by flames, including a couple who had sought refuge in a hot tub, authorities said.

Columns of smoke billowed high into the air before dispersing into a gauzy white haze that burned eyes and prompted warnings of unhealthy air throughout the Los Angeles area.

Fire crews set backfires and sprayed fire retardant at Mount Wilson, home to at least 20 television transmission towers, radio and cell phone antennas, and the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory. The observatory also houses two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar university programs. It is both a landmark for its historic discoveries and a thriving modern center for astronomy.

The fire about a half-mile away was expected to reach the mountaintop sometime Monday night, said Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mark Whaling. If the flames hit the mountain, cell phone service and TV and radio transmissions would be disrupted, but the extent was unclear.

The blaze killed two firefighters, destroyed at least 21 homes and forced thousands of evacuations. The firefighters died when their truck drove off the side of a road with flames all around them.

People who fled returned to find their homes gone.

"It's the worst roller coaster of my life, and I hate roller coasters," said Adi Ellad, who lost his home in Big Tujunga Canyon over the weekend. "One second I'm crying, one second I'm guilty, the next moment I'm angry, and then I just want to drink tequila and forget."

Ellad left behind a family heirloom Persian rug and a photo album he put together after his father died. "I'm going to have to figure out a new philosophy: how to live without loving stuff," he said.

The blaze in the Los Angeles foothills is the biggest but not most destructive of California's wildfires. Northeast of Sacramento, a wind-driven fire destroyed 60 structures over the weekend, many of them homes in the town of Auburn.

The 275-acre blaze was 50 percent contained Monday afternoon and full containment was expected Tuesday. It wiped out an entire cul-de-sac, leaving only smoldering ruins, a handful of chimneys and burned cars.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the Auburn area, where only charred remnants of homes remained on Monday. At some houses, the only things left on the foundation are metal cabinets and washers and dryers.

"It was embers traveling in the wind, landing on the roofs, landing on attics, getting into that home and burning the home on fire," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Some mandatory evacuation orders were lifted, but most residents are still being told to stay away while crews work to restore electricity and hose down embers.

"We want to get them back as soon as possible," Berlant said. "These people, a lot of them don't know, 'Is their home still here?' We need to be sure it's safe before we let them go back."

In Yosemite National Park, fire officials planned to start a backfire that would slow progress of a blaze that has consumed nearly 5,000 acres, or 7.8 square miles, since Wednesday. The fire near the communities of Foresta and El Portal is 55 percent contained and 50 homes remain evacuated. The fire began when a prescribed burn near Foresta jumped the lines and whipped out of control.

East of Los Angeles, a 1,000-acre fire threatened 2,000 homes and forced the evacuation of a scenic community of apple orchards in an oak-studded area of San Bernardino County. Brush in the area had not burned for a century, fire officials said. Flames burning like huge candles erupted between rocky slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains and the neat farmhouses below.

With highs topping 100 degrees in some areas and humidity remaining low, the National Weather Service extended a weekend warning of extreme fire conditions in the central and Southern California mountains.

Winds were light, which prevented the flames from roaring at furious speed into towns. In 2003, a wind-whipped blaze tore through neighborhoods in San Diego County, killing 15 people and destroying more than 2,400 homes. That fire burned 273,000 acres — or 427 square miles — the largest in state history.

Overall, more than 2,500 firefighters were on the line. More than 20 helicopters and air tankers were preparing to dump water and retardant over the flames. Two Canadian Super Scoopers, giant craft that can pull thousands of gallons of water from lakes and reservoirs, were expected to join the fight later in the day.

In La Crescenta, where the San Gabriel Mountains descend steeply into the bedroom suburb a dozen miles from downtown Los Angeles, 57-year-old Mary Wilson was experiencing her first wildfire after nine years of living in a canyon.

Her family was evacuated twice in the past five days, she said.

"We saw the flames. My daughter got really scared," she said. But she was philosophical: "You have to surrender to the natural forces when you choose to live up here. It's about nature doing its thing."

Also in La Crescenta, dispatchers overnight activated a "reverse 911" system that sent a recorded evacuation warning to people, but it turned out to be a mistake.

Whaling, the L.A. County fire captain, says the message applied to only a small number of residents closest to the fire but instead a large number got the sleep-shattering calls. He said he does not know how many people were involved in the call.

"They pushed the wrong button," he said.

Terry Crews, an actor promoting the new movie "Gamer" on KTLA-TV, talked about being forced to flee two days ago from his home in Altadena, in the foothills above Pasadena. He saw 40-foot flames, grabbed his dog and fled.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said. "I'm from Michigan. I'm used to tornadoes ... but to see this thing, you feel helpless."

"This is like 'The Ten Commandments,'" he said, referring to the movie. "You go, 'holy God, the end of the world.'"

The two Los Angeles County firefighters who were killed Sunday died on the blaze's northwestern front when their truck crashed on Mount Gleason near Acton.

The victims were fire Capt. Tedmund Hall, 47, of San Bernardino County, and firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones, 35, of Palmdale. Hall was a 26-year veteran, and Quinones had been a county firefighter for eight years.

An animal sanctuary called the Roar Foundation Shambala Preserve, six miles east of Acton, was in the mandatory evacuation zone, but fire officials decided removing the animals would be "a logistical nightmare," said Chris Gallucci, vice president of operations.

"We have 64 big cats, leopards, lions, tigers, cougars. ... The animals are just walking around, not being affected by this at all," Gallucci said. "But if we panic, they panic. But we are not in panic mode yet."

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Homes Lost In Big Tujunga, 3 People Injured Evacuations Expand To Glendale, La Crescenta And Altadena

Authorities say a wildfire north of Los Angeles has destroyed at least three homes and is threatening thousands more.

Captain Mike Dietrich -- the incident commander for the U.S. Forest Service -- said at a news conference Saturday night that the fire was "the perfect storm of fuels, weather and topography coming together" and called the situation "very treacherous."

He says firefighters have discovered three burned homes in remote sections of the Angeles National Forest and are looking for more that may have been destroyed.

The fire near the mountain communities of La Cañada Flintridge and Altadena had tripled in size Saturday to more than 31 square miles, sent huge billows of smoke over Los Angeles and left three people injured. Officials say they expect the Station Fire to be contained by Sept. 8.

Mandatory evacuations were extended into neighborhoods in the canyons on the northwestern edge of Altadena, Glendale, La Crescenta and Big Tujunga Canyon, Forest Service spokesman Bruce Quintelier said. It was unclear how many residents were ordered to leave.

By Saturday night, mandatory evacuation orders were lifted for areas on Vista Del Valle Road between Angeles Crest Highway and La Canada Blvd.; La Canada Blvd. north of Vista Del Valle Rd.; Big Briar Way off Haskell St.; El Vago St. between La Canada Blvd. and Alta Canyada Rd; Donna Maria Ln.; Indian Dr.; Hacienda Dr.; Alta Canyada Rd. north of El Vago St. and Linda Vista Dr.

However, new evacuation orders were issued for residences on Ocean View Blvd. north of Bristow Dr., including Bristow Dr. Derwood Dr., Manistee Dr. and Highrim Rd.; east of Palm Dr. at Ravista Ln. to Alta Canyada Road; Greenridge Dr., Forest Green Dr., Ridge Ct. and Starlight Crest Dr.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory will also be closed until at least Sunday night.

Flames crept lower down the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains, despite winds blowing predominantly in the other direction, threatening more than 2,000 homes in the La Cañada Flintridge area. At least 150 homes were under mandatory evacuation orders there.

It made a run of 6 to 8 miles to the north and west in just four hours, Dietrich said, bringing new concerns for the community of Acton and the area around Santa Clarita.

At least three people were burned and airlifted to local hospitals, Dietrich said. He had no further details on their injuries. Two of them were hurt in the Big Tujunga Canyon area, the third on the Angeles Crest Highway.

A few homes and about 25 recreational cabins have burned but exact numbers were not immediately available, Forest Service spokesman Gabriel Alvarez said.

At least two animal sanctuaries, including the Wildlife Waystation, are also threatened by the fire. More than 100 horses need to be evacuated from Osborn Stables, but the Waystation's 400 wild animals, which include bears, tigers and chimpanzees, cannot be evacuated.

The blaze has exploded to 20,000 acres and is only 5 percent contained.

Hot, dry weather was expected all day Saturday, but crews were hopeful that winds would remain light, Luna said.

Flames knocked out power to at least 164 residences in La Cañada Flintridge Saturday afternoon, according to Southern California Edison. Repair crews were ordered to stay out of the area because of fire danger.

A major goal was to keep the fire from spreading up Mount Wilson, where many of the region's broadcast and communications antennas and the historic Mount Wilson Observatory are located, officials said.

Air crews waged a fierce late afternoon battle against the southeast corner of the fire, burning dangerously close to canyon homes. Spotter planes with tankers on their tails dove well below ridge lines to lay bright orange retardant then pulled up dramatically over neighborhoods, and giant sky crane helicopters swooped in to unleash showers on the biggest flareups.

The amount of smoke was hampering air operations in some areas, officials said.

A thick layer of smoke hovered over northern Los Angeles County, and officials issued a smoke advisory for communities near the fire. Residents were urged to avoid exertion and seek air-conditioned shelter.

"It's difficult for water-dropping aircraft to get in there, but they're still trying," Forest Service spokeswoman Jessica Luna said.

A second fire in the Angeles National Forest was burning several miles to the east in a canyon above the city of Azusa. The 2,168-acre fire, which started Tuesday afternoon, was 95 percent contained Saturday. No homes were threatened, and full containment was expected by Monday.

A wildfire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the south Los Angeles County coast was 100 percent contained Saturday afternoon, according to County Fire Captain Mike Brown. As many as 1,500 people were forced to flee at the height of the fire Thursday night. Six homes received minor exterior damage, but the only structures destroyed were an outbuilding and gazebo. No injuries were reported.

Southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County, the 2,290-acre Cottonwood fire in a rural area of the San Bernardino National Forest was 30 percent contained. Crews aided by aircraft were working to build a line around the fire, which was burning in steep, rocky terrain in Beeb Canyon, according to Forest Service spokesperson Norma Bailey. No structures were threatened. Temperatures were expected to top 100 degrees in the region, but winds remained light.

Five heat-related injuries were reported, but no structures have been damaged or destroyed.
A 15-acre flareup caused nearby Highway 74 to remain closed until Sunday morning.