Mammoth Lakes Forest Fire Contained

A forest fire that forced evacuation of two campgrounds and briefly threatened expensive resort homes in the town of Mammoth Lakes was fully contained Sunday afternoon, after blackening more than 500 acres of timberland and injuring two firefighters.

“We have about 700 people on the line now,” fire spokesman Craig Frank said, “and they are already at work on intensive mop-up operations that should require several more days, but much of the equipment has been released to deal with other emergencies.

“We expect full control to be established late Monday--as long as the weather, especially the wind, continues to cooperate.”

Frank said the New Shady Rest and Old Shady Rest campgrounds, from which more than 300 weekend campers were evacuated as a precautionary measure Saturday afternoon, will be reopened this morning.

The state fire marshal’s office said it was investigating the cause of the blaze, which began Saturday in an A-frame house on the outskirts of Mammoth Lakes, in the Sierra foothills about 250 miles north of Los Angeles and 20 miles southwest of Yosemite.

Frank said the house where the fire began was destroyed, but a shift in wind fanned the blaze away from other homes in Mammoth Lakes, preventing further damage to structures.

In Santa Barbara County, a fire that started around 2:30 p.m. burned 200 acres southwest of Gibraltar reservoir, about 15 miles east of President Reagan’s ranch.

U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Juanita Freel said the blaze was about seven miles north of the city of Santa Barbara, and appeared to pose no danger to the President’s mountaintop ranch northwest of the city, she said.

“It’s a long way away (from the President’s home),” she said.

About 200 campers were evacuated from Santa Ynez Campground, two miles from the blaze, but no injuries were reported and firefighters said no structures were in danger. There was no estimated time for containment of the fire, however.

Farther south, another blaze burned 100 acres in Los Angeles County, and two brush fires within 20 miles of each other charred about 700 acres of brush in mountainous areas north of San Bernardino.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Bill Masten said arson investigators were examining the cause of a fire that broke out about 2:30 p.m. in brushland near Interstate 5 in the Gorman area about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. The fire was fully controlled in about two hours with the loss of about 100 acres of watershed. No injuries were reported and there was no damage to structures.

Northbound lanes of California 18 were closed Sunday afternoon because of a blaze that broke out in Waterman Canyon near Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains, briefly threatening several homes before firefighters drove it back into an uninhabited area.

Forest Service spokesman Dave Behrens said the fire had blackened about 200 acres of forest land by late afternoon. He said another fire that broke out five miles northeast of San Bernardino shortly after noon Sunday had burned 500 acres by early evening, and was expected to expand to 1,000 acres overnight.

Behrens said both fires were still out of control Sunday night, with 700 firefighters from six agencies expected on the lines today, assisted by two bulldozers, five helicopters and 11 ground tankers.

Thirty acres of federal land was scorched by a fire 30 miles north of San Bernardino in the Victorville area; Behrens said this blaze was fully contained after three hours.