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Weather is on firefighters' side - for now
Cool, moist air is aiding the battle against the last of the Southern California wildfires, but Santa Ana winds are expected to return by this weekend. More
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Firefighter Josh Balboa monitors the Harris fire in southern San Diego County.
Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
Congregants of Malibu Presbyterian Church, undaunted by last week's Canyon fire, which destroyed their religious home, gathered en masse nearby today to pray and voice their resolve to rebuild.
The parishioners worshiped at the Malibu Performing Arts Center, just down the hill from where their 50-year-old church lay in ruins.
They hugged. Some cried over their loss. But the mood was redemptive.
Jesus, they recalled, would have called on them to march on.
They handed out fliers announcing that the church's ministries would continue, including seminars for parents, meetings for Pepperdine University students and a food drive for the homeless at the nearby Ralphs supermarket.
"It feels good to be back, but it's not the place we're used to," the Rev. Greg Hughes said as he prepared to lead the service.
Up at the old church before the service, Mike Rupp, 46, tiptoed through the charred remains, searching for some of the peace he had known so often in the sanctuary. Rupp was married in the church; his two children were baptized there. He tried to comprehend what had occurred.
"This building was my safe haven, my sanctuary, where I could always find God when I was troubled," said Rupp, an Agoura salesman, who brought his son and daughter to see the remains of the church. "This was a really cool place, and it will be again."
-- Duke Helfand
Los Angeles:
In the Los Angeles Unified School District, only one school closed entirely. Topanga Canyon Elementary, not far from the fire zone, shut down Tuesday, but reopened on Wednesday. The school system has canceled all outdoor activities, including physical education classes and team practices "until further notice," based on directive from the county health department and the district's own environmental health and safety office.
"Students are even eating inside at many of our schools," said Richard Alonzo, the superintendent of District 4, which includes Glassell Park, Echo Park and Hollywood. As for recreation activities, "schools usually have board games and things like that," said Alonzo. "They can read or play indoors, anything to get kids out of their seats and moving around."
Carson High Principal Kenneth Keener said his student athletes were able to play basketball and volleyball matches Wednesday because they were indoors. "Anything outside, we're just waiting for word of when it's safe, day by day," Keener said.
But even indoor activities are not automatically allowed, said Shelley Weston, a senior staffer in District 7, which covers much of South Los Angeles. "As a principal you need to look at your ventilation system," she said. "If you have a facility where you have a lot of outside air coming in," there may be problems.
The biggest athletic event of the week at many schools is Friday night football, which is officially canceled or postponed until district officials announce otherwise. Updates are posted at the website for the California Interscholastic Federation Los Angeles City Section.
-- Howard Blume
Malibu:
Rod Percival, 46, coasted his mountain bike down Las Flores Canyon Road, his dog Ayla skittering behind him. Like many residents, Percival and his wife had refused to leave Malibu. Late Tuesday morning, he used his trusty bike to take stock, as best as he could, of the fire danger.
A neighbor, Bruce Bolander, 43, asked Percival how things looked.
"We're safe. I've just ridden around the entire canyon," Percival responded. "The fire's out."
Bolander asked his friend if he thought there was any way to sneak his wife Bonny passed the sheriff's barricade. She was at Duke's, a popular restaurant down on PCH.
"Is she prepared to walk?" Percival asked, not conveying much optimism.
Bolander muttered an expletive.
Percival himself wanted to go down to PCH, but knew that if he did so, he would not be let back in.
"I need some beer. I'm out of beer," Percival joked. "This is terrible."
High above Las Flores Canyon, at fire Camp 8, L.A. County Fire Capt. Jeff Kaliher said the situation in the still smoldering mountains of Malibu was improving. Firefighters below and aircraft in the sky had kept a critical front of the wildfire from marching toward Topanga Canyon.
"We're holding the eastern line," Kaliher said.
Things had improved to the point where his strike team could relax a little, roughhouse with the two camp dogs, picnic and lather up their fire engine. Planes surveyed the fire from above.
Kaliher had not been impressed with choices made by some Malibu residents. Some of the homes had terrible brush clearance, he said.
"There's some homes, the only reason they're here is because engines were here to save them," Kaliher said.
The fire captain said he was hopeful the Malibu fire could be contained soon. But he also knew, one way or another, his team's job was far from done.
"You've got San Diego. You've got Arrowhead," Kaliher said. "Once they determine we're not needed here, we'll be reassigned elsewhere."
-- Tami Abdollah
Saugus:
California Fire Chief Ralph Alworth at the Southern California Geographic Area Coordination Center in Riverside said here was what they knew about the second fire-related death in L.A. County:
On the first day of the Buckweed Fire, a civilian trying to flee in his car got into a wreck and his car caught fire. His death today is being classified as fire-related.
Saugus:
Thirty-two structures were lost in the Buckweed fire north of Saugus, including 15 homes, said Fire Inspector Frank Garrido of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
"There were 38 miles of fire lines to contain, and we have 80% containment," he said. All roads were opened up to residents, except for the northern end of Bouquet Canyon Road, he said.
Four injuries were reported, minor ones for two civilians and one firefighter, and more serious ones for another civilian, he said.
--Tami Abdollah
Castaic:
A posse of four residents rode on horseback through Castaic's rugged canyons Tuesday afternoon. Their mission: to make sure everyone in this sparsely populated ranch-style community had survived the flames that had threatened their homes early that morning.
"I've been on horseback for three days," said Lisa Raymond, who led the pack. "This is my four-wheel drive," she added, pointing at her horse Peanuts.
The group first came upon Tony Brubaker and his wife, Sharon:their backyard was charred but their home survived.
"It came right in our back pocket," Brubaker said.
When the flames had made their way up every surrounding canyon, Brubaker decided to evacuate his $1.4 million home. The couple took their two dogs, a horse and a bird, but left 8 chickens.
Raymond next came upon Marv Metcalf, who stayed behind as flames approached his 18-acre property early Tuesday.
"Glad to see you're okay," Raymond said.
Metcalf ignored orders to evacuate so he could protect his two horses. At about 4 a.m., as the flames came down the hillside, Metcalf stood with a hose spraying nearby trees.
Firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service arrived soon after to fight the fire. Metcalf's home survived undamaged.
Raymond kept on riding.
"This is one of those communities where everyone needs to help each other," Raymond said.
-- Jean-Paul Renaud
Malibu:
Some 90% of Charter Communications cable, Internet and telephone customers in Malibu are without service, after fiber-optic lines burned in the Malibu fires, the company said in a statement. Service will return gradually, but should be completed by this evening, the company said.
Los Angeles County Fire officials said a new fire was reported at 3:40 p.m. at 1216 West Avenue Y-8 near the Antelope Valley Freeway in the Acton area. The fire, which had burned several acres, was threatening homes in the Cedar Croft and Brian Glen areas. At least 240 have been dispatched to fight the fire, which is 5% contained.
-- Andrew Blankstein
At the incident command post by Malibu Civic Center, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Edward Osorio said about 200 firefighters were leaving the Canyon fire, with some heading to San Diego. The 4,400-acre blaze was burning up to Piuma Road through Carbon Canyon Bowl, steep territory that is unsafe for firefighters.
"We can't get in there in a canyon. We'd have to hike down, and you're basically sending firefighters on a suicide mission," Osorio said.
A plane is dropping fire retardant on the eastern fire line, from Rambla Pacifico to Las Flores Canyon Road, he said.
"The fire's actually laid down pretty good," Osorio said. "There is no active fire activity. Some hot spots are smoking."
The western fire line is along Winter Canyon Road, and the northern line is at Piuma Road, Osorio said.
Some 700 homes have been evacuated of 2,100 people, Osorio said. The fire's cause is under investigation, Osorio said.
-- Tami Abdollah
Malibu:
Caltrans has closed Pacific Coast Highway in both directions between Topanga Canyon
Boulevard and Kanan Dume Road, and Topanga Canyon Boulevard from Pacific Coast Highway to Mulholland
Drive.
Rod Percival, 46, coasted his mountain bike down Las Flores Canyon Road, his dog Ayla skittering behind him. Like many residents, Percival and his wife had refused to go. Late Tuesday morning, he used his trusty bike to patrol the canyon and take stock, as best as he could, of the fire danger.
A neighbor, Bruce Bolander, 43, asked Percival how things looked.
"We're safe. I've just ridden around the entire canyon," Percival responded. "The fire's out."
Read on »
State fire officials have confirmed a second civilian death in the Santa Clarita area.
They gave no details on where the death occurred or which fire was responsible.
The report came from the Southern California Geographic Area Coordination Center in Riverside, which mobilizes resources for wildland firefighting.
-- David Kelly
Agua Dulce:
On her website, Tia Torres describes her 10-acre rescue compound for pit bulls off Sierra Highway a soothing refuge where dogs "who have suffered in silence will never hear another gun shot or the siren of a pursuing car." But Sunday night, she and her 175 dogs had other scourges to battle -- fire and wind.
Shortly before midnight Sunday, the fire came within a mile of her Villalobos Rescue Center, she estimates, then passed by, moving south. Still, it came close enough to a smaller refuge she runs, also in Agua Dulce, that she decided to evacuate. She easily herded 15 pit bulls into crates. "They're happy; they don't care," she said of her pooches on Monday morning.
More difficult was the task of rounding up a friend's several wolves at a Vasquez Canyon location. "The wolves panic. We had to chase them into kennels," Torres said.
The Agua Dulce area is filled with ranches and devoted owners of pets and exotic animals. "In this community, animals get taken out first," says Torres, a well known pit bull rescuer and trainer.
And when fire whips up, everyone jumps in to help everyone else. "You don't have to make any calls," Torres says. "People just show up with vans, trucks, trailers."
That's why it was frustating when sheriff's deputies prevented her from going up to a neighbor's exotic animal compound. "I know one guy in Vasquez Canyon who has kangaroos, porcupines and camels. He does work in the film industry. The firefighters wouldn't let him back in. They said Animal Control would take care of it. I said, 'Really?' Animal control is not equipped to deal with that. I saw county Animal Control zooming around in their little white truck. Where are you going to put a camel in that truck?"
-- Carla Hall
Castaic:
The Ranch fire in Castaic has burned 54,518 acres and is 10% contained, the U.S. Forest Service said. There are 767 firefighters battling the blaze, which is moving southwest. So far, three homes, 14 boats and a storage yard have been destroyed, and about 500 homes, 50 commercial buildings and 50 outbuildings are threatened. Evacuations are mandatory in Chiquito Canyon, Hasley Canyon, Val Verde Canyon, Hopper Canyon and Fillmore. The evacuated parts of Hillcrest have been reopened to residents. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Valencia:
The Magic fire was caused by an accidental spark created by construction workers laboring on the corner of Old Road and Magic Mountain Parkway, said Capt. Mike Brown of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The fire is burning through an area without homes, and firefighters want to keep it contained behind a fireline in a riverbed near Highway 126, he said.
-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Malibu:
The Canyon fire is burning to the southwest toward the Big Rock area near Las Flores Canyon Road, said Inspector Ron Haralson of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. So far, six homes, one church and a commercial trailer have been destroyed, and nine homes and five businesses have been damaged, he said. Three people received minor injuries, he said. About 1,765 firefighters are working the blaze, he said.
-- Tami Abdollah
Valencia:
The Magic fire is burning in Valencia near Old Road and Magic Mountain Parkway, southwest of the Magic Mountain theme park and right above the Stevenson Ranch community, said Inspector Ron Haralson of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Evacuation is mandatory for Mallory Drive and Waycott Avenue, Haralson said.
-- Tami Abdollah
The Buckweed fire has burned 37,800 acres from Agua Dulce through Canyon Country into Saugus and is raging in the San Francisquito area, said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson.
"We're going to try to see if we can hold it in around that area," Haralson said.
The fire has destroyed 30 structures and two bridges, and is threatening about 3,800 homes and is 27% contained, Haralson said.
Five people have been injured -- three civilians, one of whom is in serious condition, and two firefighters, Haralson said.
Saugus, Golden Valley, Hart and Quartz Hill high schools are available as evacuation centers, but no mandatory orders to leave are in place, Haralson said.
-- Tami Abdollah
The Meadow Ridge fire near the Newhall Pass was declared "knocked down" about 8 a.m. after burning only 12 acres, said Inspector Ron Haralson of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The fire, which broke out about 4 a.m., was no longer active, he said.
"We've got crews in the area working to extinguish hot spots, but we don't see that fire getting any larger than it is right now," Haralson said.
--Tami Abdollah
Patty Darling hadn't slept in two days.
"I've just been on fire alert," Darling said.
The first 24 hours were spent monitoring the Buckweed fire as it quickly made its way from its point of origin near Agua Dulce to neighboring Bouquet and San Francisquito canyons through the night as hundreds of residents fled their homes.
Darling watched on television in her Soledad Canyon home as these residents to the north of her fled, hoping her community would be next. As Darling finally fell asleep Monday night, a knock came at the door.
The fire, a neighbor told her, had reached the entrance of Darling's 70-home gated community of Canyon Collection.
"We thought we had seen the worst of it," she said.
Within minutes Darling, her husband and two young daughters had their lives packed in two cars: family photos, the girls' handprints that hung on the laundry room wall, important documents and the family's two beloved English springer spaniels. Even their pet rabbit, Bugs, and a hamster named Sweet Nibblet made it safely into the car.
As the entire neighborhood waited around midnight for the authorities' official order to evacuate, firefighters were able to put out the flames -- a spot blaze out of the Buckweed Fire. "I've never seen anything like it," said Darling, who has lived in this area since 1992.
--Jean-Paul Renaud
A new fire, the Meadow Ridge fire, broke out early today near the Newhall Pass where Highway 14 meets the 5 Freeway and is about half a mile from the nearest homes, officials said.
The blaze, which broke out about 4 a.m., has burned only about 12 acres near San Fernando Road and Meadow Ridge Drive but is growing, said Los Angeles Fire Inspector Sam Padilla.
About 100 firefighters are working the blaze, Padilla said. The 5 Freeway and Highway 14 were backed up while Sierra Highway heading east was closed this morning.
The Meadow Ridge fire brings the total fires in Los Angeles County up to four, Padilla said.
--Tami Abdollah
Malibu:
Monday afternoon, along Las Flores Canyon, an area high in the hills above Pacific Coast Highway that's been evacuated, Steve Brookes, 43, and a handful of others were parked, waiting to see if the danger would pass. "This is all I know. I was born and raised here." He said it's quiet, and then "every 10 years there's something, fires or floods."
He lived through the 1971 and 1993 fires. Everybody is much more prepared this time than in 1993, when there were no airdrops and fire engines, he said. In 1993, somebody dubbed his street Miracle Park Ave., because it was not burned when much around it was. He brought with him high school yearbooks, tax returns, bank statements, two concert tickets to the Eagles, a fax machine, bicycle, computer and his dog Indy.
Nigel Cooper, 55, owns a software company and lives on Manzanita with his wife, Nancy Lindquist, 50. "Everywhere you live there is always something," he says. He used to live in London and there were problems there too. They're about to move to Oregon. "If the house burns down, at least we won't have to get a moving company."
They took out three dogs, three cats, computers, jewelry, financial papers and his father's family albums. "There's fire, there are earthquakes. You just accept the fact it could happen, and don't get excited if it does. "If it doesn't take the house, we'll go back; in the meantime, it's a beautiful day. I have to make sure I don't get sun-burned."
Nancy Evans, 63, lives on Live Oak Meadow. Her all-wood home burned down in 1993. She rebuilt it with steel and concrete and a metal roof. She was talking to neighbors about the deer. "I have a love-hate relationship with them. We love looking at them and taking pictures of them, but I have to chase them out of my yard because they eat my flowers and my plants. They've kept our yards pretty sparse this year, so that's helpful for the fire." She has a deer-crossing sign in front of her house.
A couple months ago, worried about possible fires, she moved valuables to storage. "It's a very dry year. We burned out in '93. I'm a little nervous." She removed jewelry and photos to her mother's house, and a lot of papers and Christmas decorations to a storage unit, as well as her tax returns. She had her car packed up with family videos. The 1993 fire was hotter and faster, and this time people seemed more prepared, she said. She's waiting it out as long as she can because if she leaves, she can't come back. In '93, her husband rode his bike into town then walked back up to discover the house had burned.
Larry Rick, 49, a physician's assistant at Kaiser, lives on Live Oak Meadow. He says Malibu is not just celebrities. There's a fixer-upper here and a trailer there. Malabama, they call it. About midday, residents were told to leave.
Rick has carriers for three cats, and his wife already took out important papers. Firefighters have assured him the neighborhood is very defendable. In the car he has personal pieces of art and a "get out of town" bag. "Everything else can be replaced, but I don't expect to lose anything."
Jeff Casper, 42, is holding his son Dolphan, 3, on his shoulders, and his wife Eryka Casper, 37, is holding 10-month old daughter Bella in her arms. They are outside their home on Las Flores, at the bottom of the canyon. Their son's preschool burned to ground at Malibu Presbyterian.
They have brought their son's skateboard and artwork, plaster casts of the wife when pregnant, passports, a sailboard, surfboard, design books and videos. Both cars are packed up.
They lived directly across from World Trade Center and moved to Malibu November 2001. "It's déjà vu," Casper said. Last night they made cookies and pizza for the firefighters. Eryka says, "Whether it's an urban landscape or more rural, it's always very humbling, the fragility of life."
-- Anna Gorman
Malibu:
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky blamed environmental restrictions for standing in the way of fire protection in the Malibu area.
"The Coastal Commission believes that every piece of chaparral is an environmentally sensitive plant…You’ve got to be realistic. This is the real world," he said.
The Coastal Commission does not prohibit clearing of brush. In fact, under state law since 2005, Californians must clear brush within 100 feet of their homes and other structures -- 200 feet if they live in Los Angeles County’s high-risk areas, including Malibu.
Steve Hudson, the Coastal Commission’s regional supervisor of planning and regulation, said the commission allows vegetation clearance as long as it’s consistent with that law. New developments must have brush-clearance plans approved by the county fire department, he said.
In addition, new developments in the Santa Monica Mountains area that remove chaparral or coastal sage scrub must pay a mitigation fee. The money goes into a fund for preserving the habitats for rare native animals and plants.
-- Marla Cone
Canyon Country:
On Monday, Lucy Medina, 32, surveyed the remains of her Canyon Country home. Only its frame and garage were standing. Her sister's Toyota Corolla was gutted.
"This is where we spend Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving -- all the holidays," Medina said. "So that's kind of sad."
Medina said she was frustrated firefighters weren't on the scene when she tried to get back to her house with her two children, Steven, 4, and Sebastian, 7 months old, after a Sunday-afternoon shopping trip and early dinner at Rattler's Restaurant. Firefighters were able to rescue her family's Rottweiler, Champ, by tossing him over to some neighbors before they escaped.
"I'm used to seeing all the smoke, but never did I imagine it would be my home. I guess you never do," Medina said.
-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Near Valencia:
"Stevenson Ranch is no longer in danger," Fire Inspector Mike Brown said this evening, adding that the wind seemed to be dying down.
The 1,200-acre fire that started Monday afternoon south of Magic Mountain, which once threatened Stevenson Ranch, was 20% contained by 7 p.m.
-- Richard Winton
Shelters accepting displaced animals include:
LARGE ANIMALS
Pierce College
6201 Winnetka Avenue
Woodland Hills, CA 91371
Antelope Valley Fair Grounds
2551 West Avenue H
Lancaster, CA 93536
SMALL ANIMALS
Agoura Animal Shelter
29525 Agoura Road
Agoura Hills, CA 91301
818-991-0071
Castaic Animal Shelter
31044 N. Charlie Canyon Road
Castaic, CA 91384
661-257-3191
Read on »
Malibu:
Robyn Morgan, 69, of Carbon Mesa Road in Malibu, evacuated at 3:30 a.m. Monday.
Morgan wears a necklace with what looks like a gold nugget with a diamond in the middle. It's the remains of her late husband's watch, the only thing they were able to save when their house was burned in the 1993 Malibu fire.
"I have had it on since '93," she said as a chopper dumped water on a smoky ridge above. "I never take it off."
It's hard for other people to understand why she lives here through thick and thin, she said. But when her husband was dying in 1997, the beauty of the canyon became a way for her to comfort him.
"When he was dying, he was in a back bedroom. I told him, 'I want you to look outside. I'm going to make the garden as nice as I can for you.' "
She has heard the talk about rich Malibu residents being bailed out at great cost because of where they choose to live.
"They got the wrong idea about all the rich people in Malibu," she said. "There are movie stars who are super-rich, and there are those making a living who are not super-rich."
She said spends a lot of money clearing vegetation around her home. "A lot goes into Malibu. We are not getting a free ride. We pay our taxes like everyone else."
Her son Damon Bivens, 41, who also lives in Malibu, showed up to be with her. "I can't be too far from Mom when she lives in a place called Carbon Canyon."
He said that no house is worth risking a life for, yet, "This feels different for us, because we lost everything before."
-- Hector Becerra
Malibu:
Then there is the trio, called Le Resistance, sipping beer and homemade absinthe from the fourth-story veranda of a home called "The Phoenix," so named because it rose from the ashes of the 1993 fire and is made of fireproof concrete and steel.
It's an architectural wonder.
From the veranda, Le Resistance has a panoramic view of Las Flores canyon and a sky literally full of up to four helicopters, two water bombers and a spotter plane, flying all at once, just a quarter of a mile further north.
Billowing orange and red clouds of smoke rising up from behind a ridge in the distance are the focus of their attention and afternoon musings.
"It looks like Chumash Indians sending smoke signals and we are reading them. They're saying, 'It's going to be all right for now,'" said Yvonne Delarosa, an actress who appeared in the movie Helter Skelter and has a recurring role on Weeds.
The group also has a prime view of Delarosa's two goats, Billy and Betty Ramone, named after the punk rock band. The animals have done an admirable job of clipping the brush from the hill overlooking her home below.
The home is owned by Tom Waljeski. Yvonne and her husband Sam, a director, own a home below the veranda.
Near Santa Clarita:
As flames slowly made their way toward Stevenson Ranch late Monday afternoon, Ava Raich was busy packing valuables. A sheriff's deputy came up the street and warned of a mandatory evacuation. Raich, who has five children, including twins, a boy and a girl in the first grade, said she packed computers, important family papers and photographs.
"I packed each of the younger kids' special blankets," she said. "I also packed my grandfather's WW II Marine uniform and his purple heart. It's that kind of stuff you can't replace."
-- Richard Winton
Santa Clarita:
Furley Lumpkin, 54, a telecom executive, had just sold his Quartz Road house near the Magic Mountain fire, packed his belongings and planned to move to Texas when he heard that fire was lapping yards away from his property line. He got stuck in traffic trying to get home and frustrated, parked at a nearby grocery store and hiked half a mile to his house just as flames arrived. Suddenly, a helicopter swooped over and dropped water along his property line, followed by a fixed wing aircraft dumping fire retardant.
"It was really fast, it was as if the firefighters had this scenario in their emergency plans and drills," Lumpkin said. "They are really aggressive about protecting houses."
He said some neighbors were hosing down their houses. But, he said, "You are not going to do it with garden hose."
He said he was unsure whether he would stay at his house tonight.
"I want to watch this a little bit and let it cool down. It may not be safe to be here, there may be embers. But then you hate to leave."
-- Molly Hennessy Fiske
Las Flores Canyon, Malibu:
Firefighters were hitting hot spots on the ridgelines of Las Flores Canyon hard throughout the day with water tankers, helicopters and planes. The canyon is a designated trigger zone for Topanga Canyon, whose 12,000 to 14,000 residents will receive mandatory evacuation orders if the fire spills into Las Flores.
A voluntary evacuation call was issued in Las Flores before midnight, but went largely unheeded. At 3 a.m., sheriff's deputies came up in caravans, with bullhorns, and distributed a mandatory evacuation notice door-to-door. Some residents complied. But dozens and dozens, knowing that when they cross the barrier at the end of the road at Pacific Coast Highway, they can't come back -- not for horses, not for expensive paintings -- ignored the order. On Monday, they gathered in the streets, keeping a close eye on the progress of the fire abatement effort. The wait, which would prove if they had been smart or stupid to linger, was nerve-wracking. Staying could have been the dumbest move of their lives. So when these residents rooted for the water bombers, it was with a special zeal.
One man, with a bandana over his face to protect against smoke inhalation, stood with a group of neighbors with binoculars, all of them watching a column of smoke rising on a mountaintop about a mile up the canyon. The group was about a half mile above PCH. Michael Blum, 36, a freelance graphic designer, rents a modest wood-shingled home surrounded by lush brush and oak trees, not far from a brook.
"You could say I'm trying to make educated guesses about combinations of terrain and wind," Blum said. "My guess is that this lower portion of the canyon is safe - but the truth is, we're nowhere near being safe."
"if you feel you're going to be safe, you try and stay as long as you can."
He spoke to a certain psychology of Malibu living: As long as the good guys are winning, residents are smart to stay. "There's something special about living in Malibu; it has rural roots and there's still people around here who arrived in the 1940s. Personally, I surf. Some of the best waves in the world are two miles from here at Surfrider Beach."
All of a sudden a caravan of six sheriff cars and an ambulance sped up the road. A skinny, shirtless man with long sandy blond hair and wraparound sunglasses spooked and yelled, "Let's scatter!" Three or four people vanished. Blum didn't budge.
The Malibu town crier later explained that if you get in an argument with the police, you might wind up in handcuffs. Kris Russel, 31, ignored repeated orders to vacate his parents' two-story, four-bedroom yellow and coffee colored stucco home, called "The Creek House." The house, which was built to replace a home destroyed by fire on the same site in 1993, had a For Sale sign at the end of the driveway.
"My parents are worried about the impact this fire will have on the value of their home; they're asking about $1.6 million," Russel said.
Last night a sheriff's car cruised by at 2 in the morning. Kris was outside and deputies ordered him to leave. "Well, at first I thought, 'This is it. I have to go,'" he said. "But then I talked to some neighbors who said, 'Aw man, you don't have to leave.'"
Law enforcement said they can't force someone to leave.
This the fifth major fire in the area since 1988 - the first one in 1988, the Monte Nido Burn in 1991, the Old Topanga Fire in 1993, the Calabasas Fire in 1996 and now the Canyon Fire.
Earlier Monday, authorities widened the evacuation zone to include the 20 to 50 homes along Pima and Scheren Roads.
Hundreds, perhaps even a few thousand, people live in Las Flores Canyon. The homes are remarkably diverse, ranging from extraordinary architectural fantasies to soaring four- and five-story adobe-colored mansions and small wood-shingled bungalows. The ridge crests are spiked with palatial estates.
Las Flores is lined with sycamore, oak, pine and pepper trees. The hills are cloaked in thick chaparral.
Last night, after the first evacuation order, new BMW's and luxurious sedans and exotic sports cars filled to the rooftops with blankets and rocking chairs could be seen sliding down the canyon.
-- Louis Sahagun
Santa Clarita:
In Westridge, a new residential community a half-mile south of Magic Mountain, authorities set up road blocks late Monday afternoon to prevent homeowners from driving into the flames. But many defied them by simply parking their cars and walking up to their homes.
"I've been here three-and-a-half years and this is the second fire I've seen," said Ron Stahlberg. "My car is down at the shopping center. They wouldn't let me bring it up here. I'm not about to get out. I don't think it's going to come over the ridge."
-- Richard Winton
Robin Morgan, 69, stood on the driveway at the edge of her 4-acre home atop Carbon Mesa Road in Malibu, as a water-dropping helicopter pounded a smoldering eucalyptus tree a few yards above her property. Some of the nearby slopes had been charred the night before.
Morgan said the scene reminded her a little bit of 1993, when another big fire swept through Malibu and destroyed hundreds of homes, including hers, and rendering the landscape moonlike.
But Morgan said she wouldn't live anywhere else.
"The sky is blue, the ocean is crystal-clear, you can see the boats from here," she said. "It's just a pleasure, except on a day like this."
Fourteen years ago, Morgan bided her time before fleeing her canyon paradise. Her barn was crowned with flames, she recalled, and her pet donkeys hoofed it down the canyon in panic.
She only left after a sheriff's deputy told her, "If you don't leave now, you're going to fry."
It took nine months to rebuild her home last time, she said. And if it burns again, she will rebuild again, she said.
"I'm just so happy," she said. "I don't have bumper-to-bumper neighbors, I don't have to battle traffic, I'm just spoiled. I got the world by the tail, except for the fires."
-Hector Becerra
Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and county Chief Executive William T. Fujioka visited the front line of the Agua Dulce fire.
"It was very devastating," Antonovich said. "We watched helicopters making repeated drops trying to save homes. There are 5,500 homes that have been evacuated. Fifteen thousand people are out of their homes, 25 homes have been destroyed."
"It's very sad," he said. "We're going to help people rebuild who lost their homes.... All these fires are shutting down California."
-- Richard Winton
Santa Clarita:
Neighbors gathered on a corner on suburban Robin Street in Santa Clarita Monday watched a woman leading a sorrel quarter horse called Poco out of a trailer and down the street to graze on their yards.
As neighbors fed Poco carrots and monitored the smoke billowing from the surrounding canyons, Corinne Meyer, 50, the horse’s owner, said she was trying to decide what to do not only with Poco, but with her dogs and cats, waiting in crates in her truck. She stayed with a friend Sunday night and kept Poco in his trailer. She wasn’t allowed back Monday to her house on Bouquet Canyon Road.
"If I can’t go today, I don’t know where I will go," said Meyer, a colorist at Jose Eber salon in Beverly Hills.
Roy Ellender, 88, a retired mechanical engineer who lives on Beach Creek Circle, went to stay with his daughter Sunday night to avoid the stress of a possible evacuation. Returning Monday, he was out walking his dog Penny, a Papillon mix, off Secco Canyon Road. He worried about inhaling too much ash, and kept one eye on the worsening traffic and another on the sky, concerned helicopters carrying water might accidentally drop some on his house.
Nearby, William Vermeer, 48, a healthcare worker, sat in a small park waiting with his elderly parents. They were evacuated from the Secco Canyon area at 7:30 a.m., and were still waiting at 10:30 a.m. to see if they should, or could, return.
Vermeer woke before dawn to see the fire creeping toward the back of his house.
He didn’t want to leave, he said, but, "It’s not a pretty sight when you see the hill behind your house go up in flame." Santa Clarita sheriff’s deputies stopped by and told him he had to leave. He hoped the greenery he planted around his house, against a possible fire threat, would protect his home.
He called work, and told them he plans to stay home through Tuesday. "Right now, they know I’m homeless," he said.
"Traffic is going to be a nightmare around here," he said. "It already is."
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Mandatory evacuation orders have gone out as a result of the Canyon fire for Topanga Canyon, Puerco Canyon, Sweetwater, Carbon Canyon, Malibu Road, Malibu Crest, Serra Retreat, Big Rock, Carbon Mesa and Rambla Pacifica, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.
In the Canyon fire, 24,000 acres have burned, 10 homes and six businesses have been damaged, and one church and one commercial trailer were destroyed. The fire is 10% contained, authorities said.
In the Buckweed fire in the Agua Dulce/Canyon Country area, 25 structures have been damaged or destroyed, 900 homes are without power, and all of Vasquez Canyon Road, Bouquet Canyon Road and San Francisquito Canyon Road have been evacuated. That fire is also 10 % contained.
Standing on a ridge at the end of Celestial Lane, their cul-de-sac, Michael Klastorin, 50, and his neighbor Jason Altman, 43, examined the blackened hillside 50 yards behind their homes. Klastorin said he had awakened at 4 a.m. and seen the glow of the fire just beyond the hill. "Ominous would be a good word," he said.
As they stood on the ridge, the men saw another fire start just across the valley in a bowl-type canyon perhaps a quarter of a mile away. They watched as winds caught those initial flames, then consumed and charred the bowl within a minute or two.
"Whoa, that’s how fast it is," Klastorin said. "It comes up that fast."
Then black smoke poured up over a ridge about 200 yards north of their vantage point, accompanied by the sounds of cracking wood and roaring winds. It appeared that a fire road at the top of the ridge would stop that blaze.
Yellow tanker planes and helicopters roared overhead, apparently en route to a blaze on a small mountain at the top of the neighborhood of Tuscan-style homes. Then came the sirens of law enforcement vehicles, notifying residents that it was time to leave.
"They’re doing mandatory evacuations right now," Altman said to his neighbor.
"They must be seeing something we’re not seeing," Klastorin replied. "We’re not out of the woods yet."
The men eventually walked back toward their homes, then down the road and drove away.
But others didn't see an immediate risk, especially considering that they weren't asked to evacuate earlier, when the fire was so much closer to their homes.
In his driveway on Discovery Ridge, just down the way, Luciano Carducci, 54, flagged a sheriff’s vehicle. The deputies told Carducci that he still had a few minutes but that he should evacuate his family as soon as he reasonably could.
As they spoke, Carducci's sons, ages 7 and 5, hung out nearby. Carducci surveyed his home, surrounded by heavily watered, fire-retardant iceplant. He said his Toyota minivan was packed with clothes, sodas and a football for the boys.
"I don’t want to go because I just don’t see it, but we want to be obedient," he said. "The officer said we’ve got some time."
What does he think will happen? "Only God knows," Carducci said. "He’s in control."
Not far away, several people stood looking at a hillside denuded by the early-morning fire. A few trails of smoke twisted lazily into the air and two girls, perhaps 12, picked their way across the blackened slope.
Mike Rich and his family stood on Valley Oak Place, looking down at the scene. Suddenly his son, Chance, 7, brightened. "Mom, look at the bike track!" Chance said. "It’s burned, but there are still jumps."
-- Joe Mozingo in Saugus
As columns of black smoke billowed over a nearby ridge, a mandatory evacuation was ordered for a neighborhood north of Copper Hill Road near Saugus shortly before 10 a.m. Water-dropping aircraft were called in to help firefighters battle the wind-whipped blaze.
Sport utility vehicles, vans and cars on High Sierra Trail were packed with family valuables and ready to go.
But resident Beth Kray was hesitant to leave her home.
"It's better now than it was last night," she said of fire conditions. "It was on the ridge right behind. We couldn't get a wink of sleep. What we saw last night was really frightening. This is a tightknit neighoborhood. Many people in the neighborhod are firefightes and police officers, so we're all very well prepared. We've got our vehicle pointing down the road."
-- Richard Winton in Saugus
Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Bob Goldman stood in the driveway of Fire Station No. 70 at the intersection of Carbon Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway, watching flames advance his way.
"This fire really fooled me," Goldman said. "Last night when I went to bed I thought, 'Ah, this fire is just going to punk around on the hillside, it's not particularly active.' But when I woke up this morning, I was shocked. I never thought it would reach my fire station."
Like many fire officials early this morning, Goldman was concerned that the fire could move into nearby Las Flores Canyon.
That canyon is a designated "trigger point," Goldman said, meaning that if it becomes engulfed in flames, officials plan to order evacuations for the 12,000 to 14,000 people who live in Topanga Canyon.
Goldman said he worried that if the fire crossed into Las Flores Canyon, it would run, unimpeded, through heavy brush all the way to Topanga Canyon.
-- Louis Sahagun, Carbon Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway
The Buckweed fire in northern Los Angeles County has scorched more than 12,500 acres.
The fire is believed to have started by downed power lines in the 11000 block of West Mint Canyon Road in Agua Dulce, said Capt. Henry Rodriguez, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Structure damage is still being assessed, he said.
"It burned a lot more than we thought it would (overnight) and we're scrambling to respond," said Deputy Fire Chief Glenn Massey. Firefighters are "trying to get out ahead of it with the resources we have."
The fire is racing up nearby canyon corridors, he said, and there is concern that it will eventualy merge with the Ranch Fire in Castaic.
"The wind is taking the fire to the ridge stops, backing up, and coming back, so it's a challenge for our trucks to get up there," Massey said. "This fire has been the number 1 state priority in the state since 7 p.m. last night, and resources from Malibu are already being sent here...With the erratic winds, it's very dangerous for firefighters."
-- From Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Agua Dulce
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