Fire Out of Control Near Lake Arrowhead; 2 Others Contained

One forest fire continued to burn out of control in Southern California Monday night, but two others--including one not far from President Reagan’s ranch--were fully contained by firefighters struggling against the dual problem of rough terrain and dry timber.

“We had a layer of fog in the morning, and that helped,” said Juanita Freel, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman assigned to the blaze in Los Padres National Forest, six miles north of Santa Barbara.

The fire was reported fully contained at 6 p.m. Monday, with full control expected sometime today.

Freel said there had never been any significant threat to the Reagan ranch, 15 miles northeast of the blaze, and that Santa Barbara is protected by a mountain ridge.

But more than 65,000 customers in Santa Barbara and Goleta lost electric power Sunday afternoon when flames destroyed two main transmission lines in the area, and smoldering patches of poison oak caused problems for firefighters.

“The electric service was restored within a few hours,” Forest Service spokesman Don Overbaugh said, “but the smoke from the poison oak was a real danger.

“Oil from poison oak gets into the smoke and if the smoke touches you or--even worse--if you get a lung full, it has almost the same effect as skin contact with the weed. You itch and swell, and the same thing can happen in any air passage touched by the smoke. . . .”

He said several firefighters were treated for skin rashes caused by the smoke, but none appeared to be in serious condition.

‘Stretched Pretty Thin’

Forest Service spokesman Kathy Good said the fire had spread to 320 acres by Monday afternoon and that about 400 firefighters were on the lines, assisted by two helicopters and four air tankers dropping water and retardant.

In San Bernardino County, a fire that began Sunday afternoon in Waterman Canyon, south of Crestline, and briefly forced closure of California 18 was fully contained Monday afternoon after wiping out 140 acres of ground cover, and firefighters said they expect to establish full control sometime today.

A few miles to the north, however, another fire that began at about the same time in San Bernardino National Forest three miles north of Lake Arrowhead continued out of control after blackening 1,500 acres of timberland, forcing evacuation of about 100 people from a recreation area in the vicinity and causing the California Highway Patrol to close California 173 at Grass Valley.

More than 1,000 firefighters from as far away as Arizona and New Mexico, assisted by ground tankers, bulldozers, helicopters and fixed-wing air tankers, worked to cut a ring of containment around the blaze, but Forest Service spokesman David Behrens said hopes for early control of the fire evaporated with the light of day Monday.

By sunset Monday, it was reported 80% contained.

But Behrens was not optimistic about the chance of completing the encirclement overnight.

“There’s almost no chance we can contain this thing before Tuesday night,” he said, “and control could take a lot longer. The problem here is only partly the dryness of the forest. It’s also the fact that rough terrain and heavy vegetation--which hasn’t burned in more than two decades--make the fire area almost totally inaccessible except by air.” He said four firefighters had been treated for smoke inhalation and one for heat exhaustion, but no major injuries had been reported and there was no immediate threat to any structures.

Meanwhile, Behrens said, there was still another problem.

“One part of the fire,” he said, “is in the Deep Creek drainage area--a natural spawning ground for trout. So we’re trying to avoid dropping retardant chemicals there, because it’s poisonous to the fish. We’ve got hand crews working there instead. . . .”