Huge fire bears down on LA

From correspondents in Los Angeles
September 30, 2005

MORE than 3000 firefighters are battling a wildfire that has ripped through a 17,000-acre swathe of suburban Los Angeles, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes.

The blaze, which erupted two days ago, has destroyed at least one house and ripped through another four buildings in the northwestern suburbs of the second largest US city, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes.
"At this time 17,000 acres have been burned," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, adding that the cause of the blaze, which was just 5 per cent contained, was under investigation.

Officials of Los Angeles and neighbouring Ventura counties declared states of emergency in parts of the fire-stricken zones in order to unblock disaster funds to help fight the blaze and house evacuees, he said.

"It is a very serious fire," Jim Wells of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said, adding that "several hundred evacuees" had fled their homes as the 16km wall of flames marched across the area.

Residents of parts of the suburbs of Chatsworth, Oak Park, Box Canyon, Woolsey Canyon, Bell Canyon, Lake Manor and Old Agoura have evacuated and sought shelter with friends or in a school gymnasium.

The fire erupted near the San Fernando Valley suburb of Chatsworth, which lies about 50km northwest of downtown Los Angeles and is home to the world's biggest pornographic industry.
The inferno spread quickly as high temperatures and winds fanned it through thick undergrowth that flourished after torrential rainfalls early this year and then turned tinder-dry. A vast pall of black smoke hung in the air above the valley.

Out-of-work actor David Curtis Nenkervis was horrified to return to his home only to find it destroyed.

"I'm devastated," he said ABC7 television. "I'm 64 years old. I've been divorced four times. I need a break. I just offered my home to the hurricane (Katrina) victims down south, and now I'm homeless. It's kind of ironical."

Firefighters were frantically chopping fire breaks across the area to halt the advance of the flames, as a total of 11 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft dumped water and fire retardant on the menacing flames.

"It's very difficult, it's very harsh terrain, with a lot of steep hills and very dry brush and the winds are not helping," Inspector John Mancha of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

But a lull in the winds gave firefighters a much-needed break in the latest chapter of their annual battle against the flames.

"We're very pleased with our success," Los Angeles County fire spokesman Mike Bryant said.

"The situation is improved over what it was yesterday," Yaroslavsky said, adding 2000 buildings had been saved from destruction by the army of firefighters and that only one person, a fireman, had been injured.

"We are guardedly optimistic, if the weather continues to cooperate and the public continues to cooperate, this may end well for all of us, but the weather is unpredictable in these parts. This is far from over," he said.

Parts of the exclusive areas of Malibu Canyon and Calabasas could soon be evacuated if the fire spreads further, fire officials warned.

Catastrophic wildfires, the worst in disaster-prone California's history, ripped through large swathes of the state in October 2003, obliterating nearly 3000 sq km of land and forcing more than 100,000 people out of their homes.

The blazes, which broke out in hot, dry and windy weather, spread fast, killing 22 people and injuring at least 181 others.

More than 15,000 firefighters were brought in from across the US to battle the series of 17 blazes that razed 4500 buildings, most of them homes.

The latest blazes burning in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley are far smaller, but the area is densely populated and covered with grasses and scrub ripe for burning after record rains in the first three months of the year.

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