Blaze in Angeles National Forest growing, with no containment in sight

A brush fire in rugged terrain in the Angeles National Forest has grown to at least 250 acres, with no estimate on containment, authorities said tonight.

About 18 Boy Scouts in the fire area were airlifted to safety in the past hour by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter, authorities said.

More than 600 firefighters are battling the blaze in highly flammable chaparral near Morris Dam near Highway 39, the U.S. Forest Service said.

"It just took off," Forest Service spokeswoman Lisa Lugo said of the blaze. "It's dry out there."

Earlier, six air tankers and five water-dropping helicopters were trying to halt the flames at a ridge top not far from the highway. But air operations have been suspended during the nighttime hours, officials said.

The fire, north of the Azusa and Glendora areas, started about 4:30 p.m. and sent a stream of smoke across the eastern San Gabriel Valley. The cause of the blaze was under investigation, the Forest Service said.

Fire conditions are expected to be even worse tomorrow. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for mountain areas in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Temperatures in some areas are expected to top 100 degrees, and relative humidity will be less than 10%, the Weather Service said.

Fire agencies, including the Los Angeles County Fire Department, will be staffing extra patrols and adding personnel to fire units in hillside areas.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Photo: Map of the Morris Dam brush fire. Credit: U.S. Forest Service

Comments

[fedup]

This is pretty sad for the L.A. Times to be reporting on this brush fire so late after it began. Then on top of that, what I had expected to be a headline story is a small sidenote on the front page. "No containment in sight" sounds pretty damn serious to me! And it's not like it's burning in the boondocks. You can see the smoke from the entire San Gabriel Valley, for crissakes. Step it up, Times!

[kristin]

I hope all the fire crews will be safe.

[gunshowsigns]

Maybe this will give the cops something to do instead of following me around.

[sona]

this is why the LA times is a horrific travesty of a news source..REALLY?? THIS is all they have to say...Shame on the LA Times for their shoddy, haphazard & totally unreliable reporting!