Firefighters Try to Tame 5 Wildfires

Forecasts of soaring temperatures and plunging humidity posed new problems for firefighters Tuesday as they battled five wildfires that had blackened more than 10,000 acres in Ventura, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

The largest of the fires, north of Ojai, continued to burn out of control Tuesday night after charring more than 7,500 acres of brush and timber and destroying four unoccupied ranch buildings. The four smaller blazes burned near Azusa, Lake Arrowhead, Castaic Lake and Val Verde.

“The weather isn’t looking good for the next couple of days,” Joe Pasinato, a U.S. Forest Service fire information officer, said as he eyed forecasts of temperatures from the mid-90s to considerably more than 100 in the burning areas today.

Tim McClung, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the lack of rain this winter and spring is contributing to one of the earliest fire seasons in decades.

“The ground is dry and the brush is dry,” he said. “Over the next few days, the air will be dry too. And it’ll be hot, which helps fires burn and is hard on the firefighters.”

An elite firefighting team arrived Tuesday to join the battle against the Ojai blaze, which burned in rugged mountain terrain north of town. The crews, specially trained in high-mountain brush fires, were deployed throughout the day, while water-dropping helicopters and tanker planes continued their air assault on the swift-moving fire.

But despite their efforts, the Wolf fire continued to burn out of control across a swath of the Los Padres National Forest just east of California 33 and south of Lockwood Valley Road. The 4-day-old fire clouded skies and sent ash raining down on much of Ventura County. By nightfall, the blaze was only 15% contained.

From highway turnouts, fire crews on break watched as the blaze erupted into five separate fronts Tuesday afternoon, with flames moving east along hillsides in the Sespe Wilderness about 12 miles from the California Condor Sanctuary.

“The fire terrain has been very difficult,” said Jim Smith, division chief for Los Padres National Forest. “We’re not going to be putting people out in front of the flames.”

The 44 firefighters in the special unit came from state and local agencies and have received training in how to battle large-scale wildfires in dangerous terrain, officials said. The unit is part of a larger national wildfire planning team based in Boise, Idaho, said Kris Fister, a spokeswoman for the team. Members are on call throughout the year.

The blaze started Saturday near the Wolf Grill Restaurant off California 33 about 12 miles north of Ojai.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Despite the massive deployment, no one has been injured fighting the blaze, which has strewn ashes as far east as Thousand Oaks and cast a thick blanket of brown and orange smoke across much of the Ventura County sky.

A fire that began Friday near Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino National Forest was about 90% contained Tuesday night after burning more than 2,700 acres and destroying two commercial buildings, four storage sheds and a trailer. Officials said that because of the steep, mountainous terrain, low humidity and high temperatures, it could be Friday before the blaze is fully contained.

A brush fire that erupted about 2:45 p.m. Monday in the Angeles National Forest about 15 miles north of Azusa had burned about 125 acres in Susana Canyon by Tuesday night. The Forest Service said the fire, which was largely contained, apparently was started by a campfire.

Two blazes broke out Tuesday afternoon near Castaic and spread rapidly through dry brush.

More than 150 Los Angeles County firefighters and air tankers were deployed to fight the first, which was reported about 4:45 p.m. between Castaic Lake and the Golden State Freeway. Ground crews and planes also moved in to battle the second, which broke out near Val Verde Park, about five miles southwest of the other fire. Officials said brisk breezes were blowing in the area. Arson investigators were looking into the cause of the blazes, a standard practice, officials said. The two fires, which together burned 130 acres, were contained by 10 p.m. Tuesday, fire officials said.

Another blaze was reported about 10:15 p.m. Tuesday in the Kagel Canyon area, but was out in about 40 minutes. Kagel Canyon runs into the mountains from the northeast San Fernando Valley, near Lake View Terrace.

McClung said the breezes, heat and low humidity are products of a giant, high-pressure weather system that edged into Northern and Central California on Tuesday morning.

The weather service predicted a record-breaking high of 100 degrees in Pasadena today. The existing record for a June 5 in Pasadena is 95, set in 1930.

*

Times staff writer Jessica Garrison and the Associated Press contributed to this report.