2,000 Flee San Luis Blaze; University, Hwy. 101 Closed : Fire Four Miles From City Center

More than 2,000 residents of San Luis Obispo were evacuated early today as flames from the 55,000-acre Las Pilitas fire, whipped by erratic winds and high temperatures, descended into the foothills east of the city, destroying three homes and damaging five others.

No injuries were reported as of mid-morning, but the fire was four miles from the city center and threatening two trailer parks, a new housing development and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

“It’s the worst fire we’ve had in the history of the city and county,” said Steven Seybold, San Luis Obispo Police Department spokesman. “We’ve had to switch to emergency power; the city is clogged with traffic. We are having trouble getting the sightseers off the street, and many people are refusing to leave their homes.”

The university, on the northeast edge of the city, was evacuated early in the morning. However, law officers had no estimate of the number of students attending the summer session. The county airport, on the southeast edge of town was also closed, and all flights were curtailed.

The flames came within half a mile of San Luis Obispo General Hospital, but firefighters were able to stave off the flames with a backfire, officials said.

‘We Can Hardly See’

“It’s frightening,” a hospital spokeswoman said. “It’s hot, and there is so much smoke and ashes we can hardly see.” She said that two premature babies were transferred to another hospital because of the smoke problem but that other patients remained at the hospital. “We are ready to evacuate them if we have to,” she added. U.S. 101 was closed for 17 miles from Santa Rosa Road north of the city to California 41. Those using California 1 were being detoured to California 41 and 46, law officers said.

More than 2,000 firefighters, aided by 240 firefighters and 80 units that arrived at mid-morning from Los Angeles, were battling the fire.

An evacuation center was set up at the South County Regional Center in Arroyo Grande.

Fire officials were coordinating the firefighting effort from an emergency center at nearby Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, 15 miles from the blaze. The plant was not threatened, officials said.

The blaze began July 1 at Santa Margarita Lake six miles north of the city. At the time, 200 residents and 4,000 campers in the Lopez Lake Recreation Area were evacuated. Seven homes in that area were destroyed.

Fire Renewed This Morning

Firefighters had 60% containment of the fire over the weekend, but high temperatures and the winds sent the flames racing through fire lines early today.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, according to Shirley Collins, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry, which is coordinating the fire fighting.

Outbreaks of brush fires in 10 western states and British Columbia have charred more than 600,000 acres and caused millions of dollars in damage. In California, nearly 200,000 acres have been burned and 150 homes destroyed. Three lives were lost in an arson-caused brush fire last week in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles.

More than 2,500 firefighters are battling the 83,000-acre blaze that began July 1 near Ojai in Ventura County.

In Los Gatos, about 40 miles south of San Francisco, a 300-acre fire that began Sunday in the Lexington Dam area forced evacuation of 300 expensive homes. The blaze was only 10% contained, and officials were faced with a firefighter shortage because of crews sent to other fires in the state.