Southland Fire Nears Containment; Weather Offers Hope in North

An arson-set fire in Southern California’s Cleveland National Forest was nearly 40% contained Friday, and firefighters predicted that the swift-moving blaze could be halted in its march through the rugged Santa Ana Mountains by the end of the weekend.

The Silverado fire, which briefly threatened scattered homes in Silverado, Temescal and Bedford canyons in rural Orange and Riverside counties, moved Friday away from populated areas and on through the dense brush to the southeast.

By day’s end, nearly 3,500 acres had been blackened in the Southland blaze, one of 1,241 fires that have burned more than half a million acres of California forest over the last 13 days.

Hope for Relief

Meanwhile, huge lightning-sparked fires in Northern California continued to burn unchecked in the Stanislaus, Klamath, Trinity, Shasta and Mendocino national forests as rain clouds off the coast brought some scant hope of relief by the weekend.

“The weather’s on our side in terms of keeping the rate of burning down,” said state Forestry Department spokesman John Garland at Klamath National Forest. “But the fires are still burning so fast we can’t get ahead of them.”

Forest fires continued to rage throughout the West, blackening more than 1,127 square miles in Oregon, Washington, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona.

In the Silverado blaze, firefighters, battling the dense brush and steep slopes of the Santa Ana Mountains, worked through the night to clear vegetation in the fire’s path. By Friday morning, they had cut an eight-mile line around the fire and expected to have the blaze fully contained by 6 p.m. Sunday.

“It’s not a very exciting show right now,” U.S. Forest Service spokesman Tom Horner said.

“We’re kind of down to the tedious drudgery. The humidity is up and the temperatures have gone down, so it’s not burning very vigorously.”

Minor Injuries Reported

Fire officials reported minor injuries to seven firefighters, ranging from minor burns to a Los Angeles County firefighter who broke an ankle.

However, no structures have been damaged in the fire, and no evacuations are planned, according to Kathleen Cha, an Orange County Fire Department spokeswoman.

A total of 1,125 firefighters, aided by six helicopters and five air tankers, were battling the blaze Friday as it continued to move slowly eastward into rural Temescal Valley in Riverside County, near Corona.

So far, costs to combat the fire have risen to more than $285,000, Cha said, not counting thousands of gallons of fire retardant chemicals dropped by aircraft.

Arson Confirmed

Fire officials confirmed Thursday that the fire was the work of an arsonist, but refused to confirm a published report that an arsonist was seen fleeing the area where the Silverado fire and a second fire about a mile away, near Maple Spring Road, had been set.

The report described a suspect in his late 20s or early 30s with shoulder-length hair, reportedly driving a 1985 or 1986 Toyota pickup truck.

The only valid information approved for release from this incident is that the cause of the fire was arson,” said Dick Marlow, a Forest Service spokesman.

In Northern California, lightning-ignited fires had devastated 865 square miles by Friday, and more than 170 fires remained uncontained.

Nearly a quarter of the burned acreage was in the Klamath Forest, where about 6,000 firefighters were still battling 159 fires.

Top Priority

But the Forestry Department said its top priority remains the Shasta-Trinity national forests, where more than 68,000 acres have been blackened in the 71 fires that continue to burn.

And the biggest complex of fires continued to be in the Stanislaus National Forest, where 128,000 acres of timber have burned.

Meanwhile, three juvenile firefighters from the California Youth Authority helping fight a 400-acre fire near Yosemite National Park were injured when a tree they were attempting to chop down as a firebreak fell on them.

The most seriously injured of the boys was listed in stable condition. The other two were treated for scrapes and bruises.

State of Emergency

Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday declared a state of emergency for Colusa and Del Norte counties, bringing 24 of the state’s 58 counties within the designation.

California fires have caused 99 injuries and destroyed 98 structures, including 39 homes. Three firefighters have died in automobile accidents, two of them blamed on the heavy smoke.

Ironically, today had been scheduled for celebration of the Forest Service’s “Take Pride in America” campaign in the Cleveland National Forest, a day of scheduled clean-up activities.

Those activities have been curtailed.

Officials also announced the weekend closure of Irvine Regional Park, being used as a headquarters for emergency fire personnel.

Those who have horses at the stables may contact the Forest Service or the Orange County Fire Department for admission to the park, officials said.