Cabin Owners Return to Ruins as Fog Cools Flames

Residents returned to the charred remains of cabins in San Dimas Canyon on Friday as cool, damp weather reduced the threat that the vast Williams wildfire would invade Mount Baldy Village and other mountain resort communities.

The fire, which had consumed more than 35,000 acres, was only 35% contained, with full containment not expected until sometime next week. But firefighters were increasingly able to beat back the advancing flames, and for the first time since the fire broke out almost a week ago, there was a widespread feeling of optimism.

“I would say we’re slowly getting the upper hand,” said Mark Struble, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management.

Bruce Quintelier, a fire information officer with the U.S. Forest Service, agreed. “Most of the threat to the structures in Mount Baldy Village and other areas is significantly diminished,” he said.

But if the mood in Mount Baldy Village was upbeat, the devastation in San Dimas Canyon was grim.

More than 40 wood cabins had burned, with little remaining but charred debris, masonry foundations, soot-stained stone fireplaces and the wreckage of burned-out cars.

“It’s hard to believe, but it used to be really pretty up here,” said Molly Holmes, 54, who lived in a rented cabin year-round with her five cats.

Holmes and some of her pets fled ahead of the advancing flames Monday night, but she had to leave most of the possessions of a lifetime behind. She returned Friday to salvage what little she could: a brass dolphin figurine, a World War II artillery shell she’d kept on her mantelpiece, some decorative stones she’d collected from the dry creek bed below her cabin.

“You lose the most important things, and those are your memories: pictures, awards, ticket stubs to the theater,” she said. “It’s devastating.”

Charlie Paltsios, 48, lives in the only cabin in the canyon that survived the fire.

“I’m a lucky man,” he said.

But Paltsios realized that his luck could run out. The hill above his cabin was already beginning to give way, and he said a winter storm could bring it down.

“At the first sign of rain, this place could be a disaster,” he said.

Since the fire broke out Sunday afternoon on the east fork of the San Gabriel River 10 miles north of Glendora, at least 72 structures have been destroyed, according to the Forest Service. Most of those were vacation cabins like those in San Dimas Canyon. Holmes and Paltsios are some of the few year-round residents.

No homes in Glendora, La Verne, San Dimas and other urban areas threatened by the fire were lost, although in several cases the flames came within a few yards. Officials said the improving weather and the determined efforts of the more than 3,300 firefighters deployed along an 11-mile front saved hundreds of houses that might have been lost.

Many of those firefighters were finally able to take a break Friday, although they remained near the lines, ready to respond in the event of flare-ups.

Jeff Shutt, 20, a member of a Forest Service fire crew from Mariposa, relaxed by a firetruck at Mount Baldy Village on Friday, chugging Gatorade and thumbing through a copy of Maxim magazine. Nearby, other firefighters napped, despite the buzz of chainsaws clearing flammable undergrowth around buildings.

“We’ve been hanging out, waiting for the word,” Shutt said.

But the word to grab their fire tools and head back to the lines never came Friday afternoon, and at fire headquarters, officials eyed the weather forecasts with relief.

“It looks like the firefighters are finally getting a break,” the Forest Service’s Quintelier said.

Forecasters said an upper-level trough of low atmospheric pressure began moving into Southern California from the north Friday, drawing in an onshore flow of cool, moist air from the Pacific that blanketed the coastal slopes with fog and clouds.

The National Weather Service said a few light drizzles could fall in the fire area today and tonight, with more clouds and fog through Sunday. High temperatures in the burn area plummeted from the 90s earlier in the week to the 60s and 70s Friday, and meteorologists said overnight lows in the 40s and 50s were expected tonight, with readings at or below freezing at higher elevations.

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Times staff writer Andrew Blankstein contributed to this report.