Fire at San Luis Obispo Contained : New Blazes Erupt in Angeles Forest, Elsewhere in State

The sprawling Las Pilitas brush fire was fully contained at last on Wednesday after destroying seven homes and roaring to the very edge of San Luis Obispo, but firefighters had little time to savor the victory as dangerous new blazes erupted in California.

Fire was discovered Wednesday afternoon in a remote canyon in the Angeles National Forest a dozen miles north of Monrovia, but the canyon was so narrow and steep that two air tankers were unable to maneuver close enough to bombard the flames with retardant chemicals.

The blaze was in the bottom of Devil’s Canyon in the San Gabriel Wilderness, where there are no roads or substantial trails. While a bulldozer reworked an old firebreak to protect Angeles Crest Highway, the U.S. Forest Service dispatched about 80 men by helicopter to where they could hike to the fire.

It was not yet known how the Devil’s Canyon blaze began, Forest Service spokesman Robert Brady said.

In Lake County north of Santa Rosa, flames started by fireworks ran wild across nearly 1,200 acres to destroy at least eight homes and threaten numerous others near Middletown, authorities said. Ten to 15 homes more were damaged. The fire was 75% contained by nightfall, but another blaze broke out a mile away, also threatening homes in the Hidden Valley development and burning across 450 acres.

And in Mendocino County, six miles north of Laytonville on the Eel River, another new blaze was whipping through a steep canyon whose sides were described by California Department of Forestry information officer Dale Wierman as “almost perpendicular.” No structures were in the path of the flames, however.

Wierman said the fire may have been started by sparks from a passing train.

For the time being, however, weather conditions were not a major problem for firefighters.

“We’re at the mercy of Mother Nature,” said Wierman, noting that a layer of marine air had moved onshore along most of the California coast.

For most of the day, California’s most troublesome fire was the Lexington Reservoir arson-set blaze in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where about 4,500 residents remained away from their homes while 1,800 firefighters worked to keep flames from crossing California 17, the Santa Cruz-to-San Jose highway, and into the communities of Redwood Estates and Skyline Ridge.

Eleven houses had been destroyed, as had one abandoned cabin, and the fire had burned 13,800 acres.

High cloudiness, increased humidity and even some sprinkles were helping crews on Wednesday, and by nightfall the fire was nearing containment. “We’re really getting lucky right now,” said California Department of Forestry spokesman Bill Morrison.

Evacuees who dropped by the Red Cross emergency center at Los Gatos Union High School were so anxious to learn which homes had been destroyed that Department of Forestry personnel escorted two residents into the fire area Wednesday afternoon to compile a list.

‘Only Rumors’

“We never hear news,” complained one woman at the center. “Only rumors.”

Not all those ordered to evacuate left their homes along the slopes south of Lexington Reservoir. Cindy Shope, who stayed with her husband to water down their house, said, “Our home is the most precious thing we have in the world.”

The state’s other major fire problem on Wednesday was south of Big Sur in Monterey County, where the Rat Creek blaze was burning out of control at both ends--attacking Partington Ridge on the north and Lucia on the south. But eight military planes dropping chemical retardant went into action and managed to knock down the northern front by late in the day.

It was reported unofficially that a gas station, a cafe and another building were destroyed at Lucia. On the north end of the fire, eight structures--including at least two homes--were burned.

The situation grew so bad Wednesday afternoon that officials asked for more firefighters from around the state to aid the 1,400 already on hand. They were due to arrive by midnight.

Scenic California 1 remained closed from the San Luis Obispo County line to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

Serious Potential

The Rat Creek fire, said Wierman, “has the potential to cover a lot of acres.” It already had burned through nearly 22,000 acres.

The firefighters battling the Rat Creek fire also were handling the 4,800-acre Gorda blaze, about 10 miles to the south. Nearly 20 of them had been injured. Thirty-five more were treated for poison oak irritation.

To the east, also in Monterey County, the Cherry Valley fire near King City suddenly exploded overnight and by Wednesday morning had spread into the Hunter-Liggett Military Reservation, doubling in size to 30,000 acres. Five barns and three residences had been destroyed and the Department of Forestry said it did not pose much threat to people or property.

Meanwhile, the arson-caused fire that had burned across more than 89,000 acres of Ventura County and into Santa Barbara County was better than half-contained after 10 days in which it threatened both Ojai and Carpinteria. About 3,300 firefighters remained on the lines and, with the help of high humidity readings and lower winds, were making what the Department of Forestry called “good progress” in establishing firebreaks and stamping out hot spots.

That fire had destroyed or damaged nearly 20 homes and outbuildings as well as more than 50 vehicles.

U.S. 101 Reopened

Full containment of the San Luis Obispo County fire Wednesday morning prompted the California Highway Patrol to reopen U.S. 101 between the California 1 junction and Atascadero for the second time.

With 292,000 acres of brush and timberland burning in California, the U.S. Forest Service began flying in more than 500 Eskimo firefighters from Alaska to reinforce the 10,000 people already battling blazes throughout the state.

Gov. George Deukmejian, who declared states of emergency Tuesday night in Monterey, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties because of the fires there, pointed out during a Wednesday press conference in Los Angeles that most of the eight major blazes still raging in California “have been linked to despicable and unforgiveable acts of arson.”

Having previously offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever set last week’s Baldwin Hills fire, where three people died and 48 homes were destroyed, Deukmejian then offered similar rewards in connection with San Diego’s Normal Heights fire, the Las Pilitas fire, the Wheeler fire in Ventura County and the Lexington Reservoir fire near Los Gatos.

The governor said the cost of fighting the rash of blazes already was an estimated $16 million.

‘Lives on the Line’

He added, “More than 10,000 courageous firefighters--including members of the National Guard, the California Conservation Corps and some trained state prison inmates--are putting their lives on the line to protect the homes and safety of residents across the state.”

He said many of “these brave men and women” had worked 12- to 20-hour shifts for 12 straight days.

Wildfires were also ravaging large areas of brush and timber in Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana and Arizona as well as in British Columbia. There were hundreds of lightning strikes in several of those states to start new blazes Wednesday, authorities said.

Times staff writers Saul Rubin in Northern California and Jerry Belcher in Los Angeles contributed to this article.