Heat Wave, 8 Wildfires Still Burning in Southland : Weather: Four blazes are largely under control, but two in Riverside County pose problems. Forecasters say holiday weekend could be cooler.

By ERIC MALNIC and TOM GORMAN

June 29, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Firefighters sweltered in the furnace temperatures of a persistent heat wave Tuesday as at least eight wildfires burned through the rugged backcountry of Southern California.

Four of the fires--near Wrightwood, Soledad Pass, Cabazon and the Gibbel Road area south of Hemet--were largely controlled by Tuesday afternoon, but four more continued to rage across slopes and canyons covered with grass, brush and timber.

“It’s hot and terrible out there,” said Jim Bouchard, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry. “It’s right around 100 degrees in most of the fire areas.”

Bouchard said the fires causing the biggest problems were both in Riverside County--a 3,500-acre blaze near Anza and a fire that had blackened about 1,200 acres above Gilman Road on North Mountain, north of Hemet.

“That fire near Anza isn’t playing by the rules,” Bouchard said. “The brush there is 30 to 40 feet tall and hasn’t burned in 50 years, the winds keep shifting, and there aren’t any roads giving us access to where it’s burning. . . .

“The people we have out there have been fighting that fire for three days,” he said. “They’re getting tired.”

Bouchard said a flare-up on the west flank of the blaze Tuesday morning threatened a number of homes “and threw quite a scare into some of the local residents,” but firefighters beat back the flames and all the structures were saved, except for one small mobile home.

Eight firefighters were injured in the Anza blaze--six of them succumbing to the heat, one suffering from smoke inhalation and one suffering minor burns.

Full control of the fire was not expected until Friday night.

Bouchard said the mountainside fire above Gilman Road was still moving briskly Tuesday, and although officials were predicting full containment by early this morning, “that’s being pretty optimistic.”

“The problem there is that the mountain is straight up and straight down, with no access roads between the top and the bottom,” Bouchard said. “That fire is damned near impossible to get to.”

Three other brush blazes were burning Tuesday in Riverside County--the 1,000-acre Fairview Road fire southeast of Hemet, the 300-acre Matthews Road fire on the Morongo Indian Reservation near Cabazon and the 3,500-acre Gibbel Road fire south of Hemet.

The troublesome Fairview blaze, which was working its way slowly through thick brush on rugged hillsides above Bautista Canyon, has been blamed on an arsonist, the Department of Forestry said. Officials said that because of the inaccessible terrain, the blaze was being fought primarily with helicopters and air tankers. Full containment was not expected until today.

The Matthews fire, which was largely contained by Tuesday night, briefly threatened a number of structures on the reservation, but none were lost. Bouchard said the blaze started when a small fire set to incinerate debris suddenly burst out of control. Full control was expected by this morning.

Like the Fairview blaze, the Gibbel fire was deliberately set, Bouchard said. Although the Gibbel fire spread rapidly, about 300 firefighters working the lines contained more than 90% of the blaze by Tuesday night, with full control predicted sometime today.

Two blazes in Los Angeles County--the 3,000-acre Wrightwood fire and the 3,500-acre Soledad Pass fire south of Palmdale--were more than 95% contained by Tuesday afternoon.

Jaquie Stiver, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said the destructive Wrightwood fire should be fully controlled by this afternoon, “but it’s not over till it’s over.”

“It’s still quite windy up there,” she said, “so everybody there is sitting on edge.”

The Wrightwood fire--started last weekend by a campfire--burned 10 homes, incinerated at least 50 cars and trucks and injured eight firefighters.

The Soledad fire, ignited during the weekend by a ricocheting tracer bullet, was fully contained Tuesday evening. “Right now, that one’s looking pretty nice,” Stiver said.

Not looking quite as nice was another fire that started during the weekend--a 4,500-acre blaze in the Cleveland National Forest near the San Diego County town of Ramona. While the 1,400 firefighters there were said to be making some progress, the blaze was only 40% contained by Tuesday night and full control was not expected until Sunday.

Forecasters said more hot weather over the next few days probably will not help firefighters much, but a cooling trend could set in by the long Fourth of July weekend.

“The dome of high pressure over the Southwest is beginning to weaken, and that’s letting a little bit of cool air start moving in from the ocean,” said WeatherData Inc. meteorologist Curtis Brack. “Wednesday and Thursday will be hot--pretty much the same as Tuesday--but it could cool off as much as 5 to 10 degrees by Sunday.”

The high temperature at the Los Angeles Civic Center on Tuesday was 89 degrees, 7 degrees cooler than forecast and 5 degrees below Monday’s top reading of 94. Tuesday’s overnight low was 71, which meant that for the second day in a row, the record for the warmest minimum was tied. The record of 71 degrees for a June 28 was set in 1980.

Other high temperatures Tuesday included 103 in Newhall, 101 in Woodland Hills, 99 in Monrovia, 97 in Pasadena, 92 in Montebello, 85 in Santa Ana, 82 in Torrance and 71 at Santa Monica Pier.

Feeding the Furnace

Here is a look at the wildfires that have hit Southern California this week, intensified by scorching heat:

A: Anza Fire

Location: Southern Riverside County

Started: Saturday

Acres burned: 3,500

B: Fairview Fire

Location: Southeast of Hemet

Started: Monday

Acres burned: More than 1,000

C: Gibbel Fire

Location: South of Hemet