Station fire remains 22% contained

FOOTHILLS — Firefighters successfully cut off the Station fire’s march toward several foothill communities, leveraging favorable weather conditions to beat back the sprawling blaze, authorities said early Wednesday.

The fire grew by about 13,000 acres overnight to 140,150 acres and remains 22% contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Officials were confident enough about area safety to lift mandatory evacuation orders for all communities in Glendale, which had been in place overnight Tuesday. Still, fire officials cautioned some North Glendale residents to voluntarily stay out of their homes.

Mandatory evacuation zones in La Crescenta and La Cañada Flintridge had already been downgraded Tuesday morning.

Residents should stay on alert because the fire remains unpredictable and could suddenly change its course depending on weather conditions, said Marian Swinney, a spokeswoman for the Station fire interagency command center at Hansen Dam Park.

“This fire is so big, it pretty well does what it wants,” she said.

A team of 4,128 fire personnel from around the nation are now battling the blaze, with some coming from as far as Alaska and West Virginia, authorities said.

Although the fire has moved away from area homes, it has grown to historic proportions and now blankets about 22% of the Angeles National Forest as it moves toward the San Gabriel Wilderness Preserve, officials said.

The roaring blaze sent flames towering over treetops and cast a thick cloud of smoke and ash over the Crescenta Valley early Wednesday.