Wind Fans Fears in Fire Area : Residents of Ravaged Neighborhoods Assess Damage in Aftermath

The Santa Ana winds kicked up again late Sunday morning, jangling the nerves of already skittish residents of fire-scarred neighborhoods in Porter Ranch and Granada Hills.

“Makes you kind of jumpy, feeling those gusts of wind again,” George McGee said as he stood at the end of Sesnon Boulevard and surveyed the charred hills above Aliso Canyon.

“I bet no one in my neighborhood will get a good night’s sleep if the winds keep picking up,” he added, pointing to a ridge of Porter Ranch homes not touched by Friday’s fire.

The wind, with gusts up to 20 to 30 m.p.h., made 19-year-old Charlie Jester nervous and philosophical. “Really, there’s nothing left to burn,” said the Beaufait Avenue resident.

Fierce Wind

It was a fierce Santa Ana that whipped a fire across more than 3,000 acres early Friday. The fire destroyed 15 homes and damaged 25 others, most of them on Beaufait Avenue. Fire officials conservatively estimated losses at $4.3 million.

Saturday afternoon, firefighters had contained the blaze to an isolated part of Limekiln Canyon. By Sunday morning, the fire was out and the force of more than 1,400 firefighters that battled the flames at their height had dwindled to six in a pickup truck loaded with water. They patrolled remote canyon areas looking for potentially dangerous embers.

Authorities also continued their search for two men seen near the Sunshine Canyon Landfill shortly before the blaze started. Arson investigators think that the fire started south of the landfill but, as of Sunday evening, had released no specific cause.

By Sunday, life had returned to a surreal normalcy. The air was filled with the acrid odor of burned wood and plastic. Little boys exuberantly skateboarded past the skeletal remains of neighbors’ homes. Couples and families, some dressed in their Sunday best, turned the intersection of Sesnon and Beaufait into a tourist attraction as they tried to get a look at the devastation.

On Garris Avenue in Granada Hills, the constant whirring of large fans and blowers drying out carpets and walls on the second floor of the home of Heidi and Ty Scribner did not disturb the boy playing a video game in the family room.

Firefighters were able to save the Scribner home, but it may take months for the family to repair and replace everything damaged by the water.

Everywhere in the fire-ravaged neighborhoods, there were signs. Stuck on the garage door of the burnt hull of a Garris Avenue house was a plaintive note requesting that all packages be delivered to a house across the street.

The Morris Dondick family, whose fire-damaged house is at the corner of Beaufait and Caithness Street, placed two hand-lettered signs on their property thanking the Los Angeles fire and police departments.

And the marquee of Hillcrest Christian Church on Rinaldi Street also thanked firefighters and added: “We salute your bravery and we are deeply indebted.”