2 Wildfires Burning Out of Control : San Diego County Blaze Forces Closure of Observatory

An 11,000-acre wildfire continued to rage out of control in San Diego County Friday night and firefighters in Los Angeles County responded to a new blaze that had threatened homes in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles.

The fire near Mt. Palomar in San Diego County was reported 60% contained, but U.S. Forest Service officials said temperatures in the 90s, low humidity, heavy brush and the steep terrain of the Cleveland National Forest were hampering the efforts of nearly 2,000 Forest Service, state Division of Forestry and military firefighters to control the blaze.

Few fire roads penetrate the mountainous area where the fire has burned for a week, and fire crews had to be airlifted by helicopter or march in on foot to reach some of the hot spots.

About 400 of the firefighters were deployed around homes and the observatory atop Mt. Palomar, where astronomers closed the big dome last Saturday to protect the 200-inch mirror of one of the world’s largest telescopes from drifting ash. On Thursday, the rest of the complex was closed.

Precautionary Move

Forest Service Capt. Jim Van Meter said the deployment at Mt. Palomar was largely precautionary. The flames were at one point about two miles away but turned in another direction late Friday.

“We don’t want to panic people, because there’s no reason to panic,” Van Meter said.

Several hundred visitors were evacuated from camps on the flanks of the mountain, but officials said none of the camp structures appeared to be in immediate danger.

In Los Angeles County, a fast-moving blaze burned at least 500 acres and for several hours threatened about 400 homes in the community of Green Valley, about 50 miles north of Los Angeles in the Angeles National Forest. At one point, flames burned to within 100 yards of some of the homes before being beaten back.

About 350 county firefighters and 100 Forest Service personnel were moved in to battle the fire, which broke out at about 11:15 a.m. near San Francisquito Canyon Road, about a mile south of town.

Ken Soto, a county fire investigator, said the fire was about 50% contained by nightfall and appeared to be burning away from the community. There was no estimate of when the fire might be fully contained.

Scorched Matchbook

Fire officials said a scorched matchbook was found where the fire started, indicating that the blaze may have been started by an arsonist or a careless smoker.

In the nearby Santa Clarita Valley, a fire burned about 10 acres of brush and grassland near the Saugus Rehabilitation Center before it was brought under control. Another blaze was extinguished after blackening a few acres of brush in the mountains near Acton, about 15 miles east of the Green Valley fire.