Wildfire causes evacuations north of Los Angeles
Fireflighters appeared to finally getting the upper hand early Thursday on a brush fire north of Los Angeles that consumed 350 acres and forced evacuations of about 1,000 residents.
At the height of the blaze some 500 homes, including an entire mobile home park, were evacuated in the Newhall area of Santa Clarita.
The fire began shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday on the shoulder of Interstate 5, briefly closing freeway lanes. Firefighters started to get it surrounded several hours later.
Wind-driven flames came very close to homes, including Dale Lookholder's. He had collected a bag of prescription medications in preparation for evacuating.
"Just my drugs, that's all I care about," Lookholder told KABC-TV. "I hope they get a handle on this thing. I just planted flowers."
Meanwhile, crews relied on retardant-dropping aircraft to battle a huge forest fire that has been burning for a week in an inaccessible area of the San Bernardino Mountains.
A change in wind direction forced the evacuation of several hundred campers on Wednesday, after several hundred more had done the same over the weekend.
The blaze about 90 miles east of Los Angeles was partially contained after burning nearly 30 square miles of old-growth timber.