170 Blazes Torment Parched State; Five Homes Destroyed East of S.F.

A fire of “suspicious” origin--one of more than 170 that swept through 4,600 acres across the state Tuesday--destroyed five homes in the Orinda hills and damaged one other, officials said.

The fire began on a grassy hillside at 2:21 p.m. in the Lost Valley area of Orinda, a residential community about 20 miles east of San Francisco, said fire inspector Mary Cornelison of the Contra Costa County consolidated fire district.

Officials said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

‘Juvenile Activity’

“We’re treating it as suspicious. . . . It appears that there was some juvenile activity involved,” said Capt. Greg Holm of the Orinda Fire Department. He said neighbors said they had seen youths playing with model rockets or fireworks near where the fire started.

One witness said the fire spread rapidly. “It went very quickly uphill. It’s just very, very dry grass,” said 17-year resident George Glover, who estimated the houses were worth $350,000 to $650,000 each.

“The hills are steep, and when the wind comes up, it makes those hills like chimneys with flames just coming right up them,” said Nancy Artist, a homeowner and 18-year resident of the area. She said the fire came within yards of her home.

The fire consumed about 10 acres of grass land and threatened at least 15 other homes before being brought under control. Shifting winds gusting up to 22 m.p.h. changed the fire’s direction several times, making it difficult to contain.

In addition to 37 fire trucks, two air tankers and a helicopter from the state Department of Forestry were used to control the blaze.

Task for Firefighters

Firefighters around the state were bedeviled by dry conditions, heat and wind as they battled several wildfires, caused largely by 9,500 lightning strikes Monday night and early Tuesday.

Firefighters said more than 4,600 acres had burned statewide, although they were keeping most of the blazes to an acre or less.

They were hampered by temperatures exceeding 100 degrees in some areas, winds of varying speeds, and lightning.

Parts of the northern Sierra Nevada town of Portola, about 180 miles northeast of San Francisco, escaped flames from lightning-sparked fires by only a few feet Monday night, residents said.

“It was amazing. People came from all over to help save our homes--people I never saw before,” said 41-year-old Joann Cavarg, a Plumas tavern manager. “I was raised in New York. I never knew what it was like before to live in a small town were everybody cared about everybody else.”

Fire in Timber Area

Another blaze of unknown cause had swept more than 2,800 acres of remote timber country near Burney, 220 miles northeast of San Francisco. It was only 10% contained Tuesday, firefighters said.

Four fires had burned more than 1,000 acres in a zone managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the northern Sierra near Susanville, about 210 miles northeast of San Francisco.

On land protected by the state, a total of 73 lightning-sparked fires had burned 2,715 acres, said state Department of Forestry spokeswoman Karen Terrill.

U.S. Forest Service spokesman Matt Mathes said 43 lightning-caused fires in Southern California national forests had burned only 30 acres, while 60 blazes in northern forests had blackened 1,897 acres.

“We are flying over the areas to determine if there are any (other) hot spots,” said Terrill.

Volunteer Efforts

In Portola late Monday, firefighters, local authorities and volunteers saved a hospital, a school, a senior citizens facility and numerous homes from a cluster of lightning-caused fires that encircled the town of 1,600 residents.

There were no injuries and just one storage barn was lost. Flames as high as 150 feet were halted at the northeastern edge of town, witnesses said, and firefighters doused 25 roof fires before flames inflicted significant damage.

Mathes said that in Southern California national forest land, the Angeles National Forest had 11 fires for a total of 11 acres burned; San Bernardino, one fire for four acres; Los Padres, seven fires for five acres; and Sequoia, nine for less than an acre.