On the front lines of fire

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Chris Kruells, 52, a retired municipal worker and a regular park visitor, said he was having lunch near the Merry Go Round on Crystal Springs Road about 2 p.m. when fire officials came through with loudspeakers tellig people to leave. He said that’s when he saw the wind-whipped flames up in the hills.

‘It was like a tornado,’ he said. ‘It was spinning, you know like one of those eddies.’ Kruells said the scene reminded him of the 1962 Griffith Park fire.

Los Angeles Fire Captain Rick McClure parked his car along the road and watched the flames come down the hill.

‘This is where they want to control the fire,’ he said, as firefighters aimed their hoses at the fire.

McClure said firefighters were initially concerned about the homes on the west end of the park near Los Feliz. But he said those homes appeared to be out of danger as well as the Los Angeles Zoo, Greek Theatera and Autry Museum at the other end of the park.

-Paul Pringle