Weather Aids Double Punch at Ojai Fire

Easing weather conditions enabled firefighters to hit the big Ojai-Carpinteria brush blaze with air tankers and bulldozers Friday in an effort to score a knockout before any new siege of torrid temperatures and whipping winds.

“If the weather holds for the next day or two, we can continue to aggressively attack the fire, which we hadn’t been able to before,” said Steve Waterman, U.S. Forest Service spokesman. “When you have hot weather and those high winds, you can’t really take the offensive.”

By Friday night, the north flank of the fire was still burning in the Jameson Lake area in the Santa Ynez Mountains behind Carpinteria but was not threatening any structures.

Evacuees Return Home

Residents of 85 homes evacuated from the outskirts of Carpinteria early Thursday were back in their homes. More than 78,000 acres have burned since the fire broke out on Monday at Wheeler Springs northeast of Ojai.

Waterman said the blaze was expected to burn until early next week.

“We still have a long way to go with this fire,” he declared.

In Los Angeles, meanwhile, city firefighters quickly extinguished a small grass fire that broke out shortly after 9 p.m. Friday at La Brea Avenue and Stocker Street, near the site of Tuesday’s disastrous, arson-set Baldwin Hills fire. No homes were threatened. Cause of the fire was under investigation.

Earlier in the day, the coroner’s office positively identified a body found in the ruins of a home burned during the Tuesday fire as that of Marie Gladden, 62, the mother of a Los Angeles firefighter.

Identification was made on the basis of dental records. An autopsy showed that Mrs. Gladden, whose body was found in the bathtub of a neighboring home where she apparently had sought refuge, was killed by the intense heat and smoke inhalation.

Two other people died in the fire that roared up a brushy hillside to destroy 48 houses and damage numerous others. They are Robert Lee Allen, 54, an avionics technician for Western Airlines, and Mary Chinetta Street, 76, a seamstress. Both lived at 4217 Don Carlos Drive, and both died of thermal burns and injuries, the coroner’s office said.

A $10,000 reward was offered Friday by Gov. George Deukmejian for information leading to the arrest of whomever started the fire.

Fire Department officials said earlier that two unidentified people had been seen lighting the blaze on La Brea Avenue at the bottom of the slope. The fire reportedly began in more than one place, and several incendiary devices were said to have been found.

The governor called it a “terribly senseless act” that “destroyed the dreams and lifelong work of many innocent people.”

Urged to Contact Police

He urged anyone with knowledge of the crime to contact police or sheriff’s offices.

Deukmejian also sent a letter to President Reagan asking that Baldwin Hills and parts of San Diego County be declared disaster areas. One of the worst of the recent spate of Southland brush blazes destroyed 64 homes in the Normal Heights area of San Diego.

A declaration by Reagan would make victims eligible for federal assistance, including temporary housing and low-interest disaster loans.

In San Luis Obispo County, the 25,000-acre Las Pilitas brush fire near Santa Margarita Lake was nearly half contained Friday. The blaze had forced evacuation of 6,000 people and burned four homes.

The 21,000-acre Cabazon fire in Riverside County was 95% contained but was still burning near the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Full containment was expected Sunday.

Crews Battle New Fire

In San Diego County, more than 200 firefighters were pulled from the nearly extinguished De Luz Canyon fire near Camp Pendleton to put down a new blaze alongside California 78, between Escondido and Ramona. It was held to about 80 acres. Officials said it appeared to have been set by an arsonist.

Other fires were still burning, but nearing full containment, in Monterey County and in Yosemite National Park.

Times staff writers Jerry Belcher in Los Angeles, Miles Corwin in Santa Barbara County and Michele L. Norris in San Diego County also contributed to this article.