"We have not been able to pinpoint exactly where the fires are," said Orange County Fire Authority spokesperson Christy Romero. "There are many spot fires; the fire is not in one general direction."
More than 600 homes have been damaged or destroyed in the
"The embers are falling miles ahead of the fire front," said Battalion Chief Chris Concepcion of the Orange County Fire Authority. "That's what is creating a lot of the problems." Dubbed the Freeway Complex blaze, the firestorm had consumed about 2,000 acres by evening, damaged or destroyed at least 88 homes. Structures also were damaged at Brea Canyon High School.
More than 4,500 homes were evacuated, with 300 people staying at an emergency shelter at Katella High School. It was the third evacuation center set up after two others had to be abandoned because of smoke and approaching flames.
"We were running underneath fire," said Lene Vrieling, 23, describing her flight from the Cascades Apartments near Anaheim Hills, to which she had moved with her mother and sisters two weeks ago. "The branches and ashes were falling on us. My mom almost got trapped."
At the apartment development, where at least three large buildings were destroyed, one resident wearing flip flops huffed as he emerged from dense smoke. "I gotta get my dog out," he said, before vanishing back into smoke.
A short distance away, as the setting sun hung on the blackened skyline, Mary Palmer and her husband Gene were trying to get to her daughter's wedding. The couple had been in
They were told they couldn't drive back to their Yorba Linda home, so they parked in Anaheim Hills and walked two miles to dress for the ceremony. Then they hiked back to their car; she in a black dress and six-inch heels, he in a suit and tie. Mary Palmer's hair was undone, tossed about in the gusting wind as they trudged past burning palm trees.
"I'll never forget this," she said. "I don't know what I'll look like or smell like when I get there. But I'm a fan of
In addition to the 91 Freeway, the fire had shut down parts of the 241 tollway, where there were reports that some motorists had abandoned vehicles to escape thick smoke.
A separate fire closed part of the 57 Freeway near Brea, where homes also were reported destroyed. About 1,200 acres had been scorched in Orange County by late afternoon and towers of smoke and ash spread as far away as Long Beach. The losses in Anaheim Hills were still being tallied, but earlier, 14 homes were listed as destroyed or damaged in Corona and at least 30 had burned in Yorba Linda.
Meanwhile, firefighters were still battling a massive fire in the northern
The greatest damage in the Valley was reported in the Oakridge Mobile Home Park near Sylmar, where more than 500 homes were destroyed in the so-called Sayre blaze that started late Friday. The
"We feel pretty comfortable that LAPD and fire were able to get everyone out," Ed Winter, assistant director of the Coroner's Office said this evening. Among those who lost everything at the mobile home park were Linda Pogacnik, 63, and Nodonda Baldwin, 56, retired
Crying uncontrollably at a
The evacuees at Sylmar High were among 10,000 residents ordered from their homes as more than 1,000 firefighters used water-dropping helicopters, bulldozers and engines from across Southern
That fire more than doubled in size today to 6,500 acres, Los Angeles Mayor
But Los Angeles Deputy Fire Chief Mario Rueda added, "These are still very dangerous winds."
In addition, a fire that began Thursday night in
In the Valley, the major traffic corridors converging near the Sayre fire -- the 5 and 210 freeways and California 14 -- were shut down for much of the day as flames jumped the freeways. By this evening, most of the closures in the area were in the process of being lifted.
On a day with warnings of extremely high fire danger and a forecast of low humidity and unusually high temperatures, the blazes stretched firefighting resources. In the San Fernando Valley, gusts up to 70 mph drove horizontal flames through canyons and limiting the ability of large water-dropping planes to join the battle.
Villaraigosa declared a local emergency shortly before 8 a.m., calling the winds "treacherous." Rolling blackouts caused by the fire briefly interrupted city power supplies.
About 600 firefighters were on the lines by early morning, and 18 aircraft were in use to fight the fire.
Towering columns of smoke spread across western Los Angeles County.
Authorities this morning said three firefighters had suffered minor injuries, and one civilian was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation.
"The fire is ripping and tearing through everything," said
"Our No. 1 priority right now is life, and people have to get out of the path of the fire," said John Tripp, incident commander for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. "We have citizens that are in harm's way right now, and that is our priority."
A Los Angeles County fire official said most of the property losses were in the area near Olive View Medical Center. Firefighters there waged a dramatic battle to protect the hospital early this morning as patients were taken to upper floors to escape smoke pouring into the lower floors.
Backup power was restored at Olive View shortly before 4 a.m. The most critically ill patients had been moved to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Huntington Hospital in
"Basically it was chaos and panic," Anne Moore said at Sylmar High. "At the same time people were trying to get out, others were trying to get closer to gawk."
Assistant Chief Donald Frazeur of L.A. Fire Department warned people not to visit the burned areas.
"We are encouraging Angelenos not to come to this area, to avoid this area. . . . We need these roads clear," he said. "This is a large area, this is a heavily concentrated area, and there are a lot of people standing around watching this instead of leaving."
Sahagun, Olivarez-Giles and Connell are Times staff writers.
louis.sahagun@latimes.com
nathan.olivarezgiles@latimes.com
rich.connell@latimes.com
Times staff writers Andrew Blankstein, Jason Felch, Ruben Vives and James Wagner contributed to this report.
