LOS ANGELES – Firefighters battling a week-old wildfire raging in the mountains near Los Angeles got their first big break yesterday as higher humidity and cooler temperatures helped them push towering flames away from threatened homes.
More than 121,000 acres, or 492sq km (190 square miles), have burned above the heavily populated foothills 25km (15 miles) north of downtown Los Angeles.
Some 6,300 homes are under evacuation orders and two firefighters have died. But the fire’s growth has slowed. Fire commander Mike Dietrich said at daybreak yesterday he was “a lot more optimistic”. “We are still at 5 per cent containment. However, with firefighting activity that occurred last night and the last several days, I expect that will increase substantially today.”
Meteorologist Matt Mehle said the change in weather was due mostly to wind patterns pulling in more damp air from northern Mexico and the Baja region – a phenomenon called monsoonal moisture. He said there may be an indirect benefit, too, from extra moisture spun off from Hurricane Jimena, a category-four storm that drenched the tip of the Baja peninsula yesterday.
Potential downsides of the weather change, which arrived sooner than previously forecast, were the likelihood of gusty winds that had been largely absent since the fire began and the possibility of dry lightning strikes that could ignite new blazes in dense brush that has not burned in decades.
Fifty-three structures have been lost out of the 12,000 at risk.
Mount Wilson, a hub of broadcasting towers and telecommunications, and home to a historic observatory, was still under threat, Mr Dietrich said.
Two firefighters died on Sunday when their position was overrun by flames and their vehicle plunged 245m (800ft) down an embankment. Several firefighters suffered minor injuries trying to rescue them. At least three civilians have been injured, two of whom were badly burned when they were trapped by flames after ignoring evacuation orders. – (Reuters)