Fire Surpasses 21,000 Acres; No End in Sight

Suffering in 102-degree heat, an army of firefighters battled into a fourth day Thursday against the still-growing Marple fire with no end in sight, while the 15-year-old accused of starting the blaze denied the charge in court.

The fire, now bigger than the Calabasas/Malibu fire in 1993, had scorched 21,300 acres--more than 33 square miles--of lightly populated mountain brush land by Thursday night and was still only 30% contained, Los Angeles County fire officials said.

The cost of the fire has not yet been calculated, “but it will certainly be in the millions of dollars just in terms of resources,” said County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman.

A total of 2,151 firefighters battled the blaze Thursday, including teams from federal, state, county and local city agencies. The effort also included 152 engines, 17 bulldozers, 10 fixed-wing air tankers and 10 helicopters.

While no deaths or serious injuries have resulted from the fire--now Southern California’s largest since Ventura County’s 38,152-acre Green Meadow fire in 1993--52 fire personnel suffered minor injuries, including smoke inhalation and beestings, said Sandra Quiet, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.

Over the course of the fire, one mobile home was destroyed and the roof of another home was damaged. Fire officials said other mobile homes previously reported damaged turned out to be storage or horse sheds.

Four trucks that were used to take firefighters to fire lines were also destroyed at a cost of about $200,000, Freeman said.

Shortly after the fire began about 12:30 p.m. Monday alongside the Golden State Freeway in a sparsely populated region north of Castaic, California Highway Patrol officers detained a 15-year-old San Fernando boy who was walking away from the area.

Sheriff’s deputies said the boy, whose parents had reported him missing hours before the fire started, told them he set the fire on a whim.

However, when the boy was arraigned Thursday in Sylmar Juvenile Court on charges of burning inhabited structures and burning forest land, he denied the charge, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Priver.

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The boy, who was ordered detained in Sylmar Juvenile Hall, could be sentenced to a maximum of 13 years if convicted.

Paradise Ranch, a trailer park that had been threatened by the fire, was evacuated Tuesday but was no longer in immediate danger Thursday because the brush around the park had already burned, county Fire Department Inspector Greg Cleveland said.

Many of the residents opted to remain.

“I still don’t feel safe,” said Gaylynn) Garcia, 32, standing in the doorway of her mobile home. “You see the smoke. You hear the helicopters overhead. It’s so terrible.”

The day before, Garcia had packed up nearly all of her possessions and sent them for storage in a friend’s house in the San Fernando Valley.

On Tuesday the fire made its way into Angeles National Forest, an area south of California 138 packed with full-grown brush for fresh fuel because no major fire has burned there since 1968. At the northern end of Angeles Forest, firefighters Thursday set a back burn on an 11-mile stretch between Liebre Mountain and Bear Canyon, about 18 miles west of Lancaster.

“It’s a controlled fire, so when the fire does reach that area, it’ll just burn [out] and we’ll have more containment,” Quiet said.

The Golden State Freeway, which had been closed by the fire Monday and Wednesday, causing a traffic nightmare, remained open Thursday. However, two northbound lanes near Templin Highway were closed.

The SuperScooper tanker planes, the county’s major weapon against quickly moving fires in difficult mountainous terrain, have not been used so far because county officials opted to lease them from Quebec only from Oct. 15 through Dec. 15.

County Fire Chief Freeman on Thursday defended that decision, appearing at a news conference accompanied by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, chairman of the county board. But Freeman said he told Canadian officials Thursday morning that he needed the planes as soon as possible, and they will leave Wednesday to be available for use by next Friday.

Freeman warned that brush is already so dry this year, “a month ahead of schedule,” that the Marple fire may be a precursor of worse to come.

“We are praying for rain,” the fire chief said, warning that there hasn’t been as potentially deadly a fire season since at least 1981. “All firefighting resources are going to have to be put to use to get through this season without serious loss of property and loss of life.”

Although mountain chaparral is adapted to natural wildfires, a major blaze still creates a number of environmental concerns, said wildlife biologist Patti Krueger of Angeles National Forest.

During the rainy season, charred hillsides rapidly erode, causing a loss of soil and washing blackened vegetation into streams and lakes, she said. “These changes can be detrimental, or they can be beneficial, depending on” the species involved, she said.

As wildflowers and grasses return to the charred hillsides, some animals, such as deer and rabbits, may benefit from the new vegetation, Krueger added. They then provide additional food for predators--bobcats, mountain lions and coyotes.

The endangered arroyo southwestern toad may be helped if the fire runoff creates more of its natural habitat--sandy stream banks and sandbars--or hurt if the runoff destroys sandbars or changes the acidity of the water, she said.

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Much of the fire area drains into Castaic Lake, a reservoir that provides drinking water for thousands of residents from the San Fernando Valley to Palos Verdes.

However, the water is constantly monitored and filtered at a plant in Granada Hills to assure that it does not become contaminated or filled with too many minerals, said Bob Gomperz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District, which sells the water to the city of Los Angeles.

If mineral levels begin to rise, the MWD and the city can reduce them by mixing the water with other water from the Owens Valley, the Colorado River or local wells, he said.

“We have a lot of flexibility to deal with any potential contamination caused by this fire,” Gomperz said.

Stewart is a Times staff writer and Gonzales a correspondent. Times staff writers Josh Meyer and Dave Ferrell contributed to this story.

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Castaic Fire

The Castaic fire is blackening brush that hasn’t burned in 30 years. It is the largest Southern California brush fire since 1993.

* Acreage: 21,300

* Firefighters: 2,151

* Ground support: 152 fire engines, 17 bulldozers

* Air support: 10 helicopters, 10 tankers

* Injuries: 52 minor