2,500 Flee Fire That Threatens Sierra Hamlets

A wildfire that swept unhindered across 7,500 acres of dry, brown grassland kept moving in the Sierra foothills northeast of here on Saturday, forcing about 2,500 people--including more than 120 elderly residents of a convalescent home--to flee from remote hamlets under a thick cover of smoke.

No one was injured in the rushed evacuation from isolated homes tucked in among oaks and pines above California 168 west of Shaver Lake. One house, two mobile homes and several outbuildings were burned. One firefighter suffered a twisted knee battling the flames.

Nearly 2,000 firefighters and a force of air tankers and helicopters summoned from throughout the state was thrown against the fire, which was discovered Friday along the San Joaquin River above Millerton Lake.

Capt. Bill Bruno of the California Department of Forestry said arson was suspected.

Too Fast to Fight

The flames moved faster than firefighters could lay down lines and the blaze was only 45% contained by late Saturday, the Department of Forestry said.

On a bad weekend for fires in the West, another blaze on the border of Riverside and San Diego counties east of Temecula charred more than 1,000 acres in the Cleveland National Forest.

But a fire that burned 10,500 acres near Atascadero in San Luis Obispo County was 90% contained Saturday. Full containment was expected by 6 a.m. today, officials said.

That fire, believed started by a spark from a motorcycle exhaust, destroyed 15 to 20 barns, garages and outbuildings, but no homes were damaged and there were no injuries, Department of Forestry spokesman Ron Alsop said.

By late Saturday, the Cleveland National Forest fire remained out of control and headed toward an area of steep canyons and “heavy, heavy brush” untouched by fire for 109 years, said U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Cele Cundari.

The dry, oily chaparral, coupled with high, dry winds posed fearsome fire conditions, authorities said.

Cundari said the blaze, of unknown cause, began about 11:30 a.m. near a public campground south of California 79. Some homes were reported evacuated, but it was not known if any were damaged, authorities said.

In Idaho, Gov. Cecil Andrus declared an emergency and the National Guard was alerted to prepare to join the battle against dozens of lightning-caused timber fires that threatened to merge into huge forest fires.

In eastern Oregon, lightning fires that raged out of control had burned about 5,500 acres.

For weeks, high, hot winds have buffeted the dry terrain creating summer fire conditions far worse than usual, said John Gleichweit, a volunteer, with the Department of Forestry.

“This is the third summer of this,” he said. “It was bound to happen.”

100-Degree Heat

Temperatures approaching 100 degrees, combined with the wind, complicated the firefighting effort.

An inversion layer Saturday helped to quiet the winds that had swept the flames up and down the foothill canyons on Friday. But the inversion also trapped smoke and made visibility difficult, according to firefighters and residents who fled the area.

One of the first crews to arrive on the scene Friday night was from the Mt. Bullion Conservation Camp in Mariposa, where juveniles convicted of serious offenses, are housed.

Working for $1 an hour--part of which goes as restitution to victims of their crimes--the youths labored for 26 straight hours, setting backfires in an effort to halt the fire’s spread.

“Today, I don’t even know what day it is,” said an exhausted Derron Atwood, 18, a convicted armed robber from Long Beach. “This is the hardest work I have ever done.”

Fresno County sheriff’s deputies on Friday drove through the fire area urging residents to evacuate the small towns of Auberry, New Auberry, Meadow Lakes and Alder Springs and the Jose Basin area.

Home for Elderly

Meadow Lakes, where the Wish-I-Ah Convalescent Hospital is located, was one of the first areas to be evacuated. About 120 elderly residents were driven to the Central Valley in five buses and spent the evening at Clovis High School.

Hospital staffers and dietitians assisted the elderly, some of whom suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease, Red Cross volunteer Alyce Berry said. Some of the elderly were taken to area nursing homes and local hospitals Saturday.

Most of the other evacuees arrived in Clovis in an upbeat mood and found shelter with friends or family, she said.

“There was some confusion, but they were smiling when they saw the (television) cameras,” Berry said. “They were in an excellent mood although some had only 15 minutes notice before jumping in their cars,” she said, adding that one man was upset that he had to leave his horses behind.

Evacuees continued arriving through the day Saturday, as sheriff’s deputies flushed residents out of the hills who had stayed near their homes in campers and pickup trucks.

Reason for Alarm

Leotta Ramsey, 33, of Meadow Lakes, had given birth only 10 days earlier and had been advised by her doctor not to drive. But she became alarmed after a television station advised residents to leave and a forest ranger drove through her neighborhood further warning residents of the fire danger.

After watching the ashes begin to fall in her yard, Ramsey said, she packed her car Friday afternoon with a portable playpen, some diapers, food and clothing and drove her newborn son, a daughter and her mother out of the area.

“As we drove, we saw people riding horses out and cars and trucks leaving,” she said. “Some people were panicking and just driving out really fast.”

The family went to a school 20 miles away and later found shelter at the home of a Fresno couple. Ramsey said Saturday she felt relieved and saddened.

“When it comes to materialistic things, you realize your life is more important and your children’s life is important,” she said. “I’m just hoping and praying that we have a home to come back to.”

Flames Near School

The fire burned to the eastern edge of Auberry during the night Friday. Rachel McDougall, a reporter for radio station KMJ in Fresno, said the fire approached within 50 yards of an elementary school. But after daylight Saturday the flames had withdrawn, leaving only blackened brush and a ring of smoke hanging above the town.

Late Saturday the main fire was burning northeast away from the evacuated towns, but roads remained closed and residents were not allowed to return. A smaller branch of the fire continued to threaten Meadow Lakes.

Department of Forestry Battalion Chief Bob Beilage described the area as “rough, steep country with pretty heavy fuel” of good-sized brush and trees that have been dried out by nearly three years of drought.

There were also reports of new fires breaking out elsewhere in the Sierra foothills, with about 80 acres burned near Yosemite Lakes and 80 to 100 acres of extremely steep terrain near Balch Camp. With no surplus ground crews to fight the Balch Camp blaze, fire officials relied solely on air tankers. At first, they said, the tankers appeared to have controlled the blaze, but it jumped a road and raced on. As night fell, the tankers were forced to halt their flights. The fire spread unhindered.

This section of Fresno County has been the scene of several large fast-moving brush fires this century. Earlier this year, with the grass and underbrush drying out rapidly, officials sounded fears that the growing population of the foothill towns would never be able to make it out in a hurry.

Narrow and Curvy Road

California 168, the main exit route, is narrow and curvy for much of its length in the mountains, and officials advised residents to become familiar with their evacuation routes. This time, at least, the preparations worked.

Just last weekend, about 14 fires were set by arsonists in the area, but were quickly extinguished, authorities said.

Smoke from the main fire Saturday had ridden over the crest of the Sierra Nevada and was covering part of far western Nevada.

John Corey of the National Weather Service’s Reno office said smoky conditions were reported in Reno, Carson City and Minden.

Stein reported from Fresno County; Merina reported from Los Angeles. Staff writers Tracy Wood and Kevin Roderick in Los Angeles contributed to this story.