A massive wildfire roaring through mountains north of Los Angeles forced some firefighters to retreat last night as the toll of engulfed homes rose sharply.
Fire officials said at least 71 homes had been destroyed since the fire started last week, most of them clustered in the foothill community of La Crescenta on the northern fringe of suburban Los Angeles. Other neighborhoods are now at risk, including about 300 homes on the southwest flank of the blaze just inside Los Angeles city limits.
As of last night, a total of 6,300 homes throughout the fire zone were under evacuation orders, authorities said.
The fire more than doubled in size as it burned out of control for a sixth day, charring 105,000 acres (42,500 hectares), up from 42,000 acres (17,000 hectares) late on Sunday, and sending up towering palls of smoke that fouled the air for miles (km) around.
Two firefighters died on Sunday when they were overrun by flames in the Angeles National Forest and rugged San Gabriel Mountains. Nearly 2,600 firefighting personnel, some from as far away as Montana and Wyoming, were battling the blaze.
With no forecast for an immediate break in the triple-digit temperatures and very low humidity that has helped energise the fire, officials pushed back their projected date for full containment by one week to September 15th.
"This is a very angry fire that we're fighting right now," Fire Commander Mike Dietrich told a news conference. "Until we get a change in the weather, I'm not overly optimistic."
Fire crews fought to protect the slopes around the 5,700-foot (1,740-metre) peak of Mount Wilson, home to 50 buildings plus a famous array of telescopes and a critical cluster of transmission towers for broadcasters.
After dousing the area in fire retardant and working to clear brush away from structures on the site, they fell back yesterday to avoid flames expected to sweep the summit.
"They've done everything they can do and it's unsafe for them to be there when the fire hits," Los Angeles County Fire Captain Mark Whaling said.
Elsewhere in the forest, 65 firefighters retreated from a wall of flames advancing on their positions, he said.
The blaze was being fueled by dense, tinder-dry vegetation that had not burned in decades. So far, the Santa Ana winds that fanned many of Southern California's worst wildfires in recent years were absent.