Hundreds Return Home as Fire Dies Down : Blaze: Flames char 757 acres of brush in Sylmar but residential neighborhoods are spared. Authorities report 90% containment.

Hundreds of Sylmar residents returned to their homes Monday as firefighters worked to contain an early morning brush fire that scorched 757 acres in the San Gabriel Mountains, but skirted nearby residential neighborhoods.

The fire turned rolling hills parched by five years of drought into a blackened landscape and forced the closure of the Foothill Freeway as crews battled flames that licked right up to the freeway shoulder in some spots.

About 1,000 homes were threatened by the blaze, which was reported at 12:15 a.m., and several hundred residents fled. Many more stayed behind to help fight flames with garden hoses.

The cause of the blaze, which apparently began near Grapevine Canyon and was 90% contained Monday afternoon, was unknown.

Los Angeles Fire Department officials said they expected the fire to be extinguished by this evening. . Crews worked overnight to monitor hot spots and form a ring around the perimeter of the burned area to prevent windborne sparks from igniting another fire.

One of the 600 firefighters battling the blaze was hospitalized for heat exhaustion and two others were treated for minor eye injuries. No residents were injured.

Structures on two ranches, including the homes of a handful of hired hands, were burned to the ground. Several horses were evacuated unharmed from stables at the Saddletree Ranch.

Edmund Ribeiro suffered more than most. He lost all his belongings, including his truck and trailer home, when the fire cut a swath through Sunset Farms. He said he had no time even to save his dog, Max.

“It was like there were a bunch of welders up there cutting metal,” Ribeiro said.

As smoke and ash blanketed the northern San Fernando Valley, the force of city, county and U.S. Forest Service firefighters battled the blaze. Five retardant-laden tanker planes and four water-dropping helicopters bombarded the flames throughout the night while ground crews cut a line around the head of the blaze.

Investigators said the fire, fanned by winds gusting through the Newhall Pass, initially burned west to the Golden State Freeway and southeast toward the Foothill Freeway.

About 2 a.m., the winds shifted and the fire began creeping east across the hillside, burning within a few feet in some spots of the rear lawns of houses on Saddle Tree Road, Captain Steve Ruda said.

Officials said the fire was considerably different in many ways from the one that ravaged the Oakland Hills last month. Both broke out on warm, gusty days, but the Oakland fire was fueled largely by wooden homes and dense ornamental landscaping after it entered residential zones. Monday’s fire was contained in brushlands and never made an inroad into residential neighborhoods.

That’s because most of the homes in the area had tile roofs.

“If these were wood shake roofs I can almost guarantee that every one of these houses would have been on fire,” said firefighter Phil Wiereter as he drove past undamaged houses on Filbert Street.

Battalion Chief Robert MacMillan, the vegetation management expert for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said firebreaks--strips between development and brush that are cleared of vegetation--had been maintained behind the mobile home park, helping protect the homes.

“It was very wise,” MacMillan said of the firebreak. “Otherwise, this could have been like Oakland.”

Wind was also a factor. By 5 a.m., the gusting winds that had plagued firefighters throughout the night had died down and crews were able to prevent the fire from spreading. Winds were mild Monday afternoon.

Fire and smoke forced the California Highway Patrol to close the Foothill Freeway between the Golden State Freeway and Polk Street from 1 to 7:15 a.m.

Fire officials said they did not formally call for the evacuation of any homes but firefighters and police officers knocked on doors on Saddle Ridge and nearby roads and told residents it would be best to leave.

As the fire spread toward Saddletree Ranch, where about 25 horses are stabled, ranch hands and horse owners moved several of the frightened animals.

The fire never reached the stables and Said Shadanloo, the owner of the ranch, said no horses were injured. But the fire did destroy nearby outbuildings that included the ranch office, an equipment storage shed and a small apartment used by four ranch hands.