High Winds Fanning Two Owens Valley Brush Fires

Treacherous mountain winds were fanning two brush fires about 60 miles apart in the Owens Valley area late Friday, destroying homes, outbuildings and livestock and forcing the evacuation of several hundred campers and homeowners, authorities said.

One fire three miles east of Bishop resulted in the deaths of about 40 cattle when they were either burned or stampeded into a creek and drowned, said Donna Perez, U.S. Forest Service area manager.

She said the blaze, which started near Owens Creek when it was crowded with fishermen and campers, came within a half-mile of destroying the historic Laws Railroad Museum, a former ghost town.

“It was really touch and go there for a while,” said the museum caretaker Ron Clark. “We were really praying that sparks wouldn’t fly this way. They could have destroyed these old buildings in minutes.”

By late Friday, the “Fishing Fire,” as it was called, had burned more than 180 acres. At its height, about 140 firefighters fought the blaze and fire officials believed they would have it controlled by early today.

But the second blaze, burning eight miles west of Lone Pine at the base of Mt. Whitney, already had destroyed two homes and a storage building and was within yards of a tract of 40 homes “worth about $100,000 apiece,” Perez said. She said the blaze, dubbed the “Olivas Fire” was being fanned by 50-m.p.h. winds and “and we don’t have any prospect for control.”

About 200 firefighters from the Forest Service, state Department of Forestry and U. S. Bureau of Land Management were fighting the blaze, and by late Friday 200 acres were consumed, including land that once was favored by western film makers.