Firefighters Appear Close to Subduing 4 Brush Fires

With gentle winds providing an important ally, firefighters appeared close today to subduing four brush fires that for two days and nights have burned through a series of coastal canyons above Malibu, destroying a handful of homes and threatening scores more.

“The perimeters of all fires are looking pretty good,” Gordon Pearson, a Los Angeles County Fire Department captain, said at mid-morning.

Several hours earlier, a $600,000 home at 22350 Pacific Coast Highway became the latest to be overrun by flames. It received extensive damage at 1:30 a.m. when embers from a flare-up landed on its shake roof.

The resident, identified as Raquel Torres, a 78-year-old former actress and widow of actor Jon Hall, escaped the fire, but the entire roof of her home was burned away and officials said the single-story dwelling was 80% destroyed. The fire also threatened other homes and apartment complexes before reaching a terrain where firefighters could extinguish it.

38,000 Acres Near Ojai

Elsewhere, the most extensive of several Southern California fires--all started during the first onslaught of seasonal Santa Ana winds this fall--has burned 38,000 acres on the border of Los Padres National Forest and Ventura County a few miles southeast of Ojai.

The so-called Wheeler Canyon fire has claimed eight residences, including five mobile homes, and numerous outbuildings and automobiles.

No more structures appeared to be facing immediate threat, said Karen Hayden, an Ojai-based fire information officer for the U.S. Forest Service. But the fire is still out of control.

Close to Santa Paula

On Tuesday, the large fire for a time burned close to the town of Santa Paula.

“We have a slight east wind, but nothing like the Santa Anas we have had for the last two days,” Hayden said.

In the several fires near Malibu, aircraft remained the most effective weapon against the blazes, dropping chemical retardants on terrain that is largely inaccessible to hand crews. The four fires there have claimed 13,000 acres, Pearson said, and arson is suspected in all.

Including the Torres residence, the fires near Malibu have consumed three homes and a nursery, and extensively damaged three others.

Related story and photos on Page 3.