Control is elusive on many fronts

Michael Klastorin watched the wind near his Saugus home catch some small flames.

Within a minute, the fire had reduced a 100-yard slope of chaparral to soot and withered sticks. Then from behind a ridge closer to his home, black smoke poured into the air, followed by loud pops and cracks as wood exploded, and then flames roared into view.

“Just that fast,” Klastorin, 50, who lives on Celestial Lane, said late Monday. “It comes that fast.”

About 25 houses and a ranger station in the Angeles National Forest were destroyed in the Buckweed fire by early Monday. Throughout the day, crews fought to keep flames from engulfing more structures.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department evacuated an estimated 15,000 people in the Saugus area as firefighters just over a ridge fought a tenacious bit of flame in San Francisquito Canyon. Later they evacuated a similar number of residents from Stevenson Ranch as a fire erupted near Six Flags Magic Mountain and shot toward the development.

By late Monday, the Buckweed fire had consumed more than 35,000 acres and was 20% contained.

In Ventura County, firefighters were aggressively fighting the Ranch fire at its eastern flank, hoping to keep flames north of California 126. By 6 p.m., the fire had burned 41,000 acres of heavy brush and chaparral, and was threatening the communities of Piru and Fillmore.

The fire had destroyed three homes and three outbuildings, and prompted recommended evacuations for an estimated 2,000 residents in those communities. Heavy smoke was visible throughout the day and prompted the closure of Highway 126 between Piru and Chiquita Canyon Road to the east in Los Angeles County.

Not all efforts were successful.

Lucy Medina, 32, of Canyon Country, was among the unlucky area residents who lost their homes. She surveyed the remnants, with only the frame and garage standing. Her sister’s Toyota Corolla was gutted.

“This is where we spend Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving -- all the holidays,” Medina said. “So that’s kind of sad.”

Medina, who lived in the house with her husband, Steven Nevarez, 31, and their sons, Steven, 4, and Sebastian, 7 months, said she was disappointed that firefighters could not save her house, but she understood that they were busy fighting other fires. She was grateful, she said, that firefighters rescued the family’s Rottweiler, Champ.

“I’m used to seeing all the smoke, but never did I imagine it would be my home,” Medina said. “I guess you never do.”

By Monday afternoon, it seemed that the Saugus area -- under severe threat that morning -- had escaped largely unharmed.

In Ventura County, residents were relieved as well. Near Piru, Debi Chessani, a school cafeteria worker, and other family members had packed her SUV with photos, clothes and food for their pets.

She walked her cocker spaniel, Roxie. But she wasn’t scrambling to evacuate.

“When I see flames coming down the mountain, that’s when it will be time to go,” Chessani said.

Firefighters worked furiously to keep the Buckweed fire, which began in Agua Dulce, from destroying homes or other property. In some instances, crews burned chaparral to eliminate fuel for the fire.

“You want to fight these things on our conditions, not its conditions,” said firefighter Bryant Rivas. “If it burns over this road, that area hasn’t burned for like 60 years, and it’ll go all the way to the Interstate 5.”

The terrain was so uneven -- like a crumpled piece of paper -- it was difficult to know where the flames would pop up next.

In the afternoon, a black cloud of smoke twisted up just south of Magic Mountain.

Helicopters and tankers were quickly diverted to the area as the fire surged southwest toward Stevenson Ranch and the Westridge subdivision.

The Magic fire’s potential to leap ridges toward densely populated Simi Valley was worrisome enough to prompt precautionary evacuations for two neighborhoods in eastern Ventura County.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department late Monday advised residents northeast of Simi Valley in the Bennett Road and Ditch Road areas to be prepared to leave overnight if the winds push the flames south.

It’s a pattern that fire officials have seen in past Santa Ana wildfires.

Furley Lumpkin, 54, a telecom executive who lives in Westridge and had just sold his house, was at a doctor’s appointment when he heard about the fire. He tried to race home, but he hit a traffic jam.

He parked at a nearby grocery store and hiked half a mile, reaching his house as flames spread up the surrounding hillside.

Then a helicopter swooped over and dropped water along his property line. Just behind it, a plane dumped fire retardant.

“With these winds,” Lumpkin said, “it’s amazing what the firefighters are accomplishing.”

molly.hennessy-fiske @latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com

joe.mozingo@latimes.com

Times staff writers Catherine Saillant and Gregory W. Griggs contributed to this report.