Residents Flee Fire on Edge of San Luis Obispo

A wall of flames threatened the eastern edge of San Luis Obispo for a time on Monday, destroying several structures and forcing the evacuation of numerous residents when erratic winds abruptly pushed the week-old 58,000-acre Las Pilitas fire down out of the foothills.

San Luis Obispo County Airport on the south side of the city was closed. On the north side, California State Polytechnic University shut down for the day and thick black smoke prompted San Luis Obispo High School officials to send summer school students home. Three youth camps in the hills also were closed.

A 17-mile stretch of U.S. 101 was closed to traffic between the junction of California 1 and Atascadero. State forestry officials said continued backfiring efforts by fire crews probably would keep the highway closed throughout the night and much of today. Motorists were rerouted through Morro Bay and over California 41 to Atascadero.

City Considered Safe

Late in the day, according to California Department of Forestry spokesman Jack Dueck, officials concluded that San Luis Obispo was safe and that the fire was no longer a threat to any other heavily populated area. Residents were told they could return to their homes.

There was some confusion over how many people actually fled their homes. One fire official said the evacuation area was a strip three to four miles long and about a quarter of a mile wide along the eastern flank of San Luis Obispo where 500 to 600 people live.

Others, however, said 5,000 to 10,000 persons were evacuated. In any event, some chose to remain and water down their roofs to save their homes.

“It’s the worst fire we’ve had in the history of the city and county,” said Steven Seybold of the San Luis Obispo Police Department. He said police had to switch to emergency power, and the city was clogged with traffic as residents fled the flames and as sightseers crowded in to look.

Seybold, crime prevention coordinator for the department, then drove home on his motorbike to check his house, only to suffer a leg injury when struck by a car and to find himself forced to flee on his new crutches as a flare-up destroyed his barn and outbuildings containing several antique cars and television sets. His house was saved, however.

By early afternoon, the 30-foot-high flames along the eastern and southern edges of the city were pretty well knocked down with the help of helicopters and bulldozers. Emergency crews from other counties rushed in to help the 1,500 firefighters worn down by their weeklong battle.

City Fire Capt. Ed Marcom said only two structures within the city limits appeared to have been damaged. Cause of the blaze was under investigation.

Until downwinds suddenly developed overnight Sunday, San Luis Obispo had not felt threatened by the big blaze that began July 1 near Santa Margarita Lake, six miles northeast of the city. That feeling of security changed swiftly overnight Sunday when the fire swept down off Cuesta Ridge to the east.

Wheeler Canyon Blaze

To the southwest, in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, about 2,500 firefighters clung to their tenuous advantage over the big Wheeler Canyon fire that had also been burning for a solid week and had threatened both the towns of Ojai and Carpinteria before being repulsed and turned back into the Santa Ynez Mountains.

By Monday, that arson-set fire had burned more than 85,000 acres of brush and was crawling toward valuable watershed. Spot fires continued to break out.

A tired army was fighting that massive blaze in 100-degree heat and officials were concerned lest dangerous Santa Ana winds come sweeping down out of the canyons to whip the flames into a frenzy again. There were no winds in the forecast, however.

U.S. Forest Service spokesman Chuck Shipp said firefighters were concentrating their efforts Monday morning on the Sisar Canyon area north of Carpinteria where, he said, “there is an awful lot of unburned fuel.”

The fire itself and the back-burning being done to create fire lines was causing a great deal of smoke in the upper Ojai Valley, Shipp noted.

Because of the increase in the number of acres burned, the fire that had been reported 53% contained was only 50% contained by midday Monday.

Farther north, a 1,200-acre blaze south of Los Gatos in Santa Clara County broke through fire lines, threatening more than 200 homes in the settlement of Chemetka Hills and prompting the evacuation of about 600 residents. That fire broke out Sunday afternoon.

Gov. George Deukmejian proclaimed a state of emergency for San Luis Obispo County because of the Las Pilitas fire that by Monday noon had burned over 55,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes. Property damage was estimated at $2.75 million.

Other Emergencies Declared

Deukmejian already had declared states of emergency for San Diego County and Los Angeles because of last week’s disastrous blazes in Normal Heights and Baldwin Hills, respectively.

The governor’s proclamation is necessary before the state can apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance, including temporary housing, low-interest loans and individual or family grants.

U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) wrote President Reagan on Monday asking that he issue a major disaster declaration for both San Diego County and Los Angeles. He pointed out there had been 295 fires--41 of them considered major--in California between June 28 and last Thursday.

The Baldwin Hills and Normal Heights fires, Wilson noted, had destroyed 112 homes, 18 other structures and 29 vehicles. Major damage was done to 38 other homes and three businesses.

In addition, three people died in the Baldwin Hills fire.

More than 600,000 acres had been charred in brush fires burning in 10 Western states and British Columbia. Nearly 200,000 acres had been burned in California, where 150 houses had been destroyed.