Hot Winds Fan Fires, Beach-Goers

It’s November in Southern California. Yet fall was nowhere in evidence Friday as desert winds fanned four brush fires, including one that threatened a movie star’s home, and temperatures soared over 90 degrees, sending surfers and other sun worshipers scurrying to the beaches to soak up the summer-like rays.

From the air, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from all directions as blazes raged in Pacific Palisades, Chatsworth, Diamond Bar and the Antelope Valley.

“Earthquakes, landslides, fires. What are we going to have next?” said one woman in Pacific Palisades.

But the flames did little to discourage beach-goers who hit the sands in unusually high numbers, thanks largely to the fact that many businesses were closed for Veterans Day.

Los Angeles County lifeguard Randy DeGregori said smoke from the Pacific Palisades fire wafted over Santa Monica Beach like dark clouds but did not attract much attention.

“There’s a strong breeze, so a lot of the smoke is coming right down on us,” DeGregori said. “But people are having a pretty good time.”

The fast-moving brush fire that swept across 90 canyon acres in Pacific Palisades was the worst result of the hot, dry and windy weather attributed to a mild Santa Ana condition.

The fire, which was controlled after about two hours, started in the 900 block of Palisades Drive and raced up a canyon wall toward residential areas. Twenty-nine firefighting companies battled the blaze, aided by helicopters that dropped thousands of gallons of water over the burning brush. Residents also aided firefighters by hosing down their multimillion-dollar homes.

Among those whose property was threatened by the fire was actor Chevy Chase, who lives in the Pacific Highlands. Smoke-belching flames edged within 100 yards of estate-sized houses.

Julie Brodia was walking out of a market when she first noticed the blaze. She raced toward her home on Avenida de Cortez and quickly gathered up her husband and 14-month-old daughter.

“I just drove out right through the fire,” Brodia said. “The flames were all up on one side of the road, and it was hot as hell and very scary. But at least my baby is safe.”

Tom Rockwell, who lives at the end of the Calle de Sevilla cul-de-sac, had left his house for his usual morning jog minutes before the fire broke out.

“I looked out the door, and it was a bright clear day,” said Rockwell, who was standing in front of his house still clad in running shorts. “Halfway through my run I saw the smoke and thought, ‘Oh my God!’ By the time I got back the fire was pretty much under control.”

George Bodner watched nervously from his home at the end of Cumbre Alta Court as the flames roared to within a few feet of his back-yard swimming pool.

“We were extremely lucky,” he said. “I happened to look out of the back of the house and the fire was coming straight toward us, and then suddenly the wind shifted and took it the other way.”

Bodner and his neighbors kept watch for most of the afternoon as four helicopters shuttled from nearby Santa Ynez Reservoir, dumping water into the burning canyon beneath their homes.

Other residents anxiously gathered at a roadblock set up at Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive, all too wary of the awesome destructive powers of uncontainable brush fires.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Greg Acevedo said the blaze, the cause of which was unknown, could have been a lot worse if it were not for good brush clearance, a quick response and a “lot of luck.”

“Twenty years ago these homes would have burned down,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents the area. “But we have avoided a disaster. We have just done a good job of prevention.”

Much the same could be said of the other brush fires that cut paths across the Southland as temperatures topped the 90-degree mark in some areas and winds gusted as high as 30 m.p.h.

The Diamond Bar brush fire backed up traffic for several miles on both sides of the Pomona Freeway and came as close as 50 feet to a housing tract Friday afternoon.

The blaze broke out on a hill north of the Pomona Freeway, causing a SigAlert at 12:30 p.m. as motorists slowed to view the fire. The flames were contained by 3 p.m. but not before the fire spread farther north over the hill, threatening homes in the Samarran Oaks housing tract. Five county fire crews, made up in large part of inmates from Azusa and La Verne correctional facilities, fought the flames, which leaped 60 feet in the air.

“I came up the street and saw it right in my back yard,” said Elaine Gonzalez, a Samarran Oaks townhouse resident. “My heart ran to my throat.”

Firefighters were also fearful of a fast-moving brush fire that broke out in a remote northwest Antelope Valley area known as Kings Canyon. But structures escaped the blaze, which charred 60 acres of brush, the Los Angeles County Fire Department reported.

The fire broke out about 12:45 p.m. and was contained by 5 p.m. No evacuations were ordered although two residents fled their houses as flames approached.

The Los Angeles Fire Department also sent 17 companies to the scene of a 30-acre brush fire near Chatsworth. That blaze in an open area south of the Simi Valley Freeway and west of Iverson Road broke out shortly before noon. It was contained in slightly more than an hour despite 15-m.p.h. winds, and there were no homes damaged or threatened.

Rick Dittmann of WeatherData Inc., which supplies forecasts to The Times, said the hot weather was the result of a desert wind flow that rarely occurs in November.

“These kinds of conditions are usually more typical between summer and fall and between winter and spring,” Dittmann said. “The typical temperature for this time of year is 74 degrees. And today it surpassed 90. So it’s real dry, windy and hot, and those are the three conditions you don’t want when you’re battling fires.”

Dittmann predicted that temperatures will start to cool today and that normal fall weather will return by Sunday.

Times staff writers Mathis Chazanov, Gabe Fuentes, Kenneth J. Garcia, Phillip Gollner, Siok-hian Tay Kelley, John Lee and Ron Russell contributed to this story.