Wildfire Burns Cajon Pass Area

Sparks from a train’s exhaust system were blamed for a wildfire Friday that swept through the Cajon Pass, the main route to the high desert of San Bernardino County, and firefighters were preparing for possible evacuations of two nearby communities.

With about 625 acres consumed by Friday evening, about 300 firefighters were working the blaze and a dozen airplanes and helicopters joined in the fight. San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman Pat Gomez said firefighters hope to have the blaze under control by Monday.

Though the cause is still under investigation, it appears that sparks from a Union Pacific freight train ignited a series of small brush fires about 10 a.m. Friday west of Interstate 15 and the Cajon Pass, Gomez said.

Fed by low humidity, high temperatures and a steady breeze, those fires had mushroomed by 5 p.m. into a blaze that raged out of control near a craggy hillside known as Little Lytle Creek Ridge.

There had been no injuries as of late Friday, Gomez said.

The California Highway Patrol reported that traffic was backed up in both directions on Interstate 15, but officials said the snarls were due primarily to rubber-necking as drivers gazed at plumes of thick, white smoke filling the pass. The Highway Patrol said it did not plan to close any lanes.

Most of the fire was in the San Bernardino National Forest, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Ruk Read.

Two communities were in some danger late Friday. The fire was moving toward the north, in the general direction of the remote mountain hamlet of Keenbrook. And firefighters were concerned about another small, unincorporated community, Lytle Creek.

“It’s not expected to get there,” Gomez said. “But we’re ready if it heads in that direction.”

Jungle Exotics, a nearby company that trains animals for movies, had to move about 200 animals--including lions, tigers, bears and eagles--from one side of its ranch to the other, Gomez said. The ranch had been threatened by the blaze, but the flames veered around it, he said, and no animals were injured.

The train that apparently caused the blaze was not damaged and did not appear to stop.

The Cajon Pass has been the site of some horrific accidents and fires over the years, including several involving trains.

In February 1996, a 49-car freight derailed on a sharp curve in the pass, causing a fire that burned for a day and a half.