Torrid Weather, Fires Continue; Beaches Packed

A cooling trend blew through Los Angeles on Monday, but not everyone noticed.

Temperatures that fell eight degrees from Sunday’s record 110-degree scorcher still left the Civic Center high for Labor Day at 102 degrees.

It was the third successive day of 100-degree-plus readings and a difficult day for firefighters battling brush fires in Ventura and Riverside counties and motorists struggling to get to jam-packed beaches and resorts.

Forecasters predicted further cooling today, with temperatures dropping into the high 90s.

Just Shy of Record

Monday’s high of 102 was three degrees shy of the record for Sept. 5 in downtown Los Angeles, set in 1984. Temperatures reached 107 in Monrovia, 105 in San Bernardino and Woodland Hills, 103 in Long Beach, 102 in Burbank and Santa Ana and 97 in San Diego. It was cooler near the ocean, with a high of 95 recorded at Los Angeles International Airport, 91 in Newport Beach and 80 in Santa Barbara.

Lifeguards reported another day of huge crowds and bumper-to-bumper traffic as residents stormed the beaches. At midday, the California Highway Patrol declared a Sigalert traffic advisory on the Santa Monica Freeway heading to the beaches.

“It’s just as you would expect--the beaches are packed, the parking lots are packed and the traffic’s at a standstill,” said Dick Heineman, a lifeguard in Santa Monica, where the temperature reached 92 degrees.

At Zuma Beach, traffic was backed up for a mile waiting to enter the parking lot, lifeguard John Baker said. All spaces were gone by noon and “you couldn’t park within a quarter-mile of the beach,” he said. “It was just a mess.”

Resourceful commuters, facing similar traffic in Hermosa Beach, attached bicycles to their cars and pedaled the distance to the sand, said lifeguard Steve Voorhees. He said the crowd there, about 350,000, was the largest he could recall since the tall ships traveled the coast a few years ago.

Officials said the largest of the brush fires had burned about 20,000 acres of rugged brushland near the community of Piru, about 20 miles west of Newhall at the Ventura-Los Angeles county line.

That fire was blamed on lightning that occurred as thunderstorms moved through earlier in the weekend. Fire crews managed to prevent it from reaching about 30 homes, officials said.

Homes Out of Danger

Residents, alerted for a possible evacuation Sunday, were believed to be out of danger by noon Monday, as hundreds of firefighters from Ventura and Los Angeles counties brought about half the fire into containment, said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector John Lenihan. Authorities expected to encircle the blaze by noon today and bring it fully under control late tonight, he said.

Two firefighters--both inmates in state work camps--were hospitalized during the fire, one from heat exhaustion and one after being hit by a falling rock, Lenihan said. Both were reported in good condition at a Newhall hospital.

Meanwhile, a fire that had burned 3,900 acres in remote parts of the Simi Valley was reported 75% contained and firefighters were expecting full containment by nightfall Monday, officials said.

About 30 homes that had been threatened were no longer considered in jeopardy after firemen battled the heat and terrain to save them, said Ventura County fire spokesman Colleen Bruns.

“We had about 500 people fighting it,” Bruns said of the fire. “They put up a real good fight.”

Trouble Elsewhere

Riverside County firefighters battled two major fires that burned at Lakeland Village, on the outskirts of Lake Elsinore, and at Juniper Flats midway between Perris and Homeland in the southeast part of the county.

The Lakeland Village blaze, blamed on an illegal campfire, threatened as many as 250 homes and forced the evacuation of some residents late Monday to Lake Elsinore High School, authorities said.

The 600-acre fire caused about $153,000 in property damage to three houses and a van, said fire spokeswomen Joanne Evans of the California Division of Forestry. The blaze forced closure of the Ortega Highway, which was expected to remain closed until sometime this morning.

More than 355 firefighters fought the fire, which was reported about 30% contained at nightfall.

The blaze at Juniper Flats, which firemen believed was contained early Monday, broke through fire lines shortly after noon and consumed an additional 200 acres, bringing the total for that blaze to 4,800, she said. More than 300 firefighters were hoping to mop up that blaze by 6 a.m. today.

The fire destroyed two houses, one of which was occupied, two mobile homes, two garages, 10 outbuildings, two travel trailers, a tractor and farm equipment for an estimated loss of $163,000, Evans said.

In Devore in San Bernardino County, fire forced evacuation of a nudist colony, the Tree House Fun Ranch. The fire, which started in vegetation near the camp, burned over three acres, destroying a residence, seven outbuildings and four vehicles and damaging two mobile homes, officials said.

A man identified as Rocco Lollo, 48, was treated for burns suffered when a liquefied petroleum gas container exploded. The blaze broke out shortly after 4 p.m. and was controlled by 70 firefighters around 6 p.m. Damage was estimated at $250,000.

Success in Orange County

In Orange County, a brush fire that had blackened 2,384 acres near Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano was fully contained Monday afternoon, and Orange County fire officials expected to declare the blaze extinguished this morning.

That fire, which began Sunday afternoon, had burned erratically toward San Clemente, frightening residents but never directly threatening homes, a spokeswoman said.

Smaller fires--fueled by heat and light winds--caused problems even in unexpected areas. At Raging Waters in San Dimas, a parked car caught fire Monday afternoon, spreading to brush and other vehicles as Los Angeles County fire crews rushed to the scene, Lenihan said.

The splashy theme park, which boasts a dozen water slides and 5 million gallons of wet fun, did not have a hydrant or other water available to extinguish the blaze in one of its remote satellite parking lots, fire spokesmen said. A fire engine with 400 gallons of water arrived and battled vainly to save eight cars destroyed by the blaze.