Evacuations in Glendale, Altadena and Big Tujunga Canyon; two people treated for burns

The Station fire was spreading rapidly to the east and west this afternoon, prompting evacuations in La Cañada Flintridge, Glendale, Altadena and Big Tujunga Canyon as temperatures reached triple digits.

Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher Melanie Flores told The Times that two people were being treated for burns at the Big Tujunga ranger station, though more details were not immediately available.

The Station fire has now burned more than 20,000 acres, according to fire officials.

The latest evacuation zone is in the remote upper reaches of Big Tujunga Canyon near the ranger station, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The city of Glendale also ordered evacuations north of Santa Carlotta Street between Pennsylvania and Lowell avenues. The city of Pasadena advised residents of the Florecita neighborhood in the far northwest of the city to evacuate their homes voluntarily.

Temperatures topping 100 degrees, single-digit humidity and the steep, rugged topography of the Angeles National Forest continue to make the fire a formidable foe despite low winds, fire officials said today.

"All of a sudden, it flared up," said Bruce Quintelier, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. Earlier this morning the flames were creeping through canyons and hillsides. The flames are beginning to approach homes in both La Cañada Flintridge near Highway 2 and the Meadows neighborhood between two canyons on the northwestern tip of Altadena.

Massive and ominous-looking smoke plumes continue to envelop the area and have made for poor air quality, falling ash and smoky odors in the nearest communities, the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles. Outside the fire command post today at the Hansen Dam Recreation Center in Lake View Terrace, the air is so choked with smoke that it resembles a London fog of decades ago.

Literally adding fuel to the fire is 20- to 30-foot-high brush that has not burned in 60 years, said Mike Dietrich, incident commander from the Forest Service.

"If there’s a silver lining, there are no Santa Ana winds expected at this time,” Dietrich said.

The latest mandatory evacuation zones include scores of homes in Altadena, including the Meadows neighborhood between El Prieto Canyon and Millard Canyon. Among the streets included are Canyon Crest, Rising Hill and Aralia roads.

In La Cañada Flintridge, evacuated areas include neighborhoods on the northern edge of the city closest to the Angeles Crest Highway, generally from La Cañada Boulevard to the La Cañada Flintridge Golf Course.

More than 2,000 homes and 52 other structures are threatened in the La Cañada Flintridge area. Fire has burned right up to homes, but no structures have been destroyed. About 750 firefighters are deployed. One suffered minor heat-related injuries and was hospitalized overnight. He is expected to be released today.

Today, the priority for firefighters is the so-called front country, the area closest to homes. Firefighters are attacking it with air tankers and shovels. Super Scooper planes are not expected until Thursday -- welcome but not essential, fire officials said.

“Super Scoopers are just another tool in the toolbox. If they’re available, we’ll take advantage of it,” said Dietrich.

Firefighters are also keeping an eye on Mt. Wilson, which is six to eight miles east of the fire. “That’s several days out. It gives us an opportunity to prepare and defend the Mt. Wilson site,” said L.A. County Fire Department Deputy Chief Jim Powers, an incident commander.

As evacuations widen, residents along foothill communities are on edge.

One leg of the fire was moving southeast toward Altadena. Another leg was moving north, and officials said they are trying to prevent it from getting to the communications centers at Mt. Wilson. A western leg was moving toward Big Tujunga Canyon.

Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for scores of homes in the area of the La Cañada Flintridge Golf Course. The orders include Starlight Crest Drive, Greenridge Drive, Forest Green Drive and Ridge Court, said Sgt. Daniel Stanley of the county Sheriff’s Department. The communities are east of the Angeles Crest Highway.

Residents were asked to assemble their families and leave the area. An evacuation center has been set up at La Cañada High School, at 4463 Oak Grove Drive, where the Red Cross will assist evacuees.

Donna Robinson, 60, has been preparing to be evacuated since Wednesday, packing up documents, clothes and baby dish mementos of her adult children. She also packed up two dogs and three cats.

“I’m not even afraid now. I think it's good we're just out of the house. Now I feel it's not under my control,” said Robinson as she sat with her husband, Paul, 57, outside the gym of La Cañada High.

This morning, residents began to slowly stream into the high school.

The worry was evident on Sonia Castellon's face as she made her way into the makeshift evacuation center.

"I was trying to keep calm, keep it together. But the moment you leave your home it's hard," the 46-year-old dentist said as she began to tear up.

Castellon said she had packed a large amount of valuables throughout the day just in case, because the fire was getting worse near her Greenridge Drive home. She packed away pictures, jewelry, cash, and discs and cards with family memories -- things that cannot be replaced.

"We had two hours from when they called, and it was already after 11 [p.m.] when we got the call. I'm scared of not having a house when we go back."

Having to evacuate was especially tough for Castellon's daughter, Carla Torres. They were in the midst of preparing for her sweet 16 birthday party. Although she hopes the party at the Castaway Restaurant and Banquet Center in Burbank offers a temporary relief, Carla said she hadn't envisioned herself waking up on her birthday at her high school.

"It's really scary right now," Carla said.

In all, nearly 10,000 acres had burned in the four major Southern California fires by Friday evening. In addition to those wildfires, two separate blazes scorched about 1,000 acres in sprawling Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. Neither fire threatened structures.

An air assault through the night helped bring the Palos Verdes Peninsula fire under 90% containment. Expensive homes in Rolling Hills and Rancho Palos Verdes had been threatened, with flames lapping at the eaves of some residences.

The blaze consumed 230 acres.

In steep terrain above Hemet, a San Bernardino National Forest wildfire was just 10% contained but was not posing an immediate threat to structures, although 2,200 acres had burned. A mandatory evacuation order in the Willowbrook Road area was lifted, but voluntary evacuation advisories remained for Bee Canyon.

The Morris fire, which started five miles north of Azusa near San Gabriel Canyon Road, blackened more than 2,000 acres and was 85% contained, officials said. The fire was burning in mostly open mountain country, but voluntary evacuations were in effect for the North Fork of the San Gabriel River.

The Los Angeles County Public Health Department warned people to avoid outdoor activities. Air quality deteriorated throughout the day as temperatures climbed, becoming unhealthful in western San Bernardino and Riverside counties as well as in parts of the San Fernando Valley.

Calif. firefighters wage fierce wildfire battles

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A wildfire that exploded in the mountains north of Los Angeles has spread over nearly 8 square miles of bone-dry forest, sent up massive billows of smoke and cast an eerie orange glow against the night sky.

The blaze in the steep San Gabriel Mountains above La Canada Flintridge spread out in all directions Friday, the most active flanks to the north, deeper into the forest and east, said Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea. The fire was creeping slowly toward the city of Altadena, but no homes were immediately threatened Friday evening, Florea said. It was zero percent contained.

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.

Authorities issued a mandatory evacuation notice early Saturday morning for many residents with homes located within a half-square-mile area and on the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. An evacuation center was set up at La Canada High School.

With hundreds of homes in La Canada Flintridge evacuated, hundreds more residents were packed and ready to move on a moment's notice.

"We're boxed up and ready to go," said La Canada Flintridge resident Steve Buntich, watching helicopters line up to siphon water from a golf course reservoir. He said his wife and children had evacuated to a friend's house for several hours, but had since returned home.

Firefighters made good progress Friday against a fire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula fire that roared to life on the south Los Angeles County coast Thursday night. As many as 1,500 people were forced to flee at the height of the fire, but calm, windless conditions allowed water-dropping helicopters to extinguish much of the fire. It was 90 percent contained, late Friday, officials said. Six homes received minor exterior damage, and the only structures destroyed were an outbuilding and gazebo. No injuries were reported.

Elsewhere in the Angeles National Forest, more than 1,600 firefighters working in 102-degree heat had achieved 85 percent containment of a 3.3-square-mile blaze in a canyon above the city of Azusa. No structures were threatened or damaged

"We're getting a handle on it. It's just taking a little longer than expected," said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Rachel Mailo.

To the north in the state's coastal midsection, a nearly 8-square-mile fire threatening Pinnacles National Monument kept 100 homes under evacuation orders near the Monterey County town of Soledad. The blaze, only 15 percent contained, was started by agricultural fireworks used to scare animals away from crops.

In the southern part of Monterey County, firefighters had 100 percent containment of a 5 1/4-square-mile fire that had threatened 20 ranch homes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday in Los Angeles and Monterey counties.

"It's fire season, clearly," he said. "There's tremendous amount of heat all over the state."

A nearly 3 1/2-square-mile fire in Yosemite National Park was 10 percent contained, said staff member Erik Skinrud.

The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office ordered guests and staff at the Yosemite View Lodge, just outside the park's western gate, to evacuate Friday afternoon due to the fire. People without lodging were offered beds in a shelter in Mariposa staffed by the Red Cross.

Residents of the nearby community of El Portal watched as water-dropping helicopters refilled from the Merced River.

Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said officials closed a campground and a portion of Highway 120, anticipating that the fire would spread north toward Tioga Road, the highest elevation route through the Sierra. The number of firefighters was expected to double over the weekend to 1,000.

Southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County, a 1 1/2-square-mile fire in the San Bernardino National Forest was 5 percent contained. Temperatures reached 106 degrees in the region.

In San Diego County, three fires totaling 1,000 acres burned on the Camp Pendleton Marine base but posed no threat to buildings, Cpl. Gabriela Gonzalez said.