Thousands Flee as Crews Save Lives and Homes
Homes saved from spreading flames
September 30, 2005
By Josh Kleinbaum, Susan Abram and Angie Valencia-Martinez, Staff Writers
Los Angeles Daily News
Photo: Teenagers run to the backyard of a house to watch the fires burning in their neighborhood near Ellesmere Way and Deerbrook Road in Oak Park. (John McCoy / LA Daily News)
THOUSAND OAKS - A treacherous wildfire defied the efforts of firefighters for a second day as it rampaged Thursday through hills and canyons along the Los Angeles-Ventura county border, charring 16,200 acres and forcing thousands of people from their homes.
Amazingly, there were no serious injuries and up to 2,000 homes were reported saved as 3,000 firefighters from across California waged a ground and aerial assault on the relentless firestorm fueled by heavy brush and Santa Ana winds.
The property damage tally was light, with fire officials reporting one house and several outbuildings destroyed.
Still, firefighters had managed to control just 5 percent of the blaze since it started Wednesday afternoon, largely due to unpredictable, gusting winds and mountainous terrain.
"We didn't come to work this morning; we came to war," Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
The fire spread overnight from Box and Bell canyons into Simi Valley and to the outskirts of Thousand Oaks. By Thursday afternoon it burned back toward the Los Angeles County line, threatening communities that thought they'd been spared and extending as far east as West Hills.
Residents were ordered to evacuate in Box Canyon, Woolsey Canyon, Bell Canyon, parts of Lake Manor, parts of Calabasas, Mont Calabasas, Oak Park and parts of Mountain View.
Firefighters focused on corralling several large fire fronts in unpopulated areas to prevent them from jumping to the south side of the Ventura Freeway for fear they could quickly spread all the way to Malibu.
"Santa Ana winds, it just makes my hair stand up on the back of my head," said Michael Bryant, deputy chief of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's special operations. "You know if something happens, it's going to go quickly.
Photo: A Chatsworth man watches the Topanga Fire approach his neighborhood Thursday evening. (Joe Binoya / Special to the Daily News)
"For people who have their houses in danger, this is a worst-case scenario."
The fast-moving blaze spread a thick blanket of smoke across the region and over the ocean, snowing ash on communities miles from the flames.
The fire began at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday with a three-acre brush fire just north of the Ronald Reagan Freeway near Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Fanned by the Santa Anas, it spread southwest toward Thousand Oaks. By Thursday morning, it had consumed more than 10,000 acres. By midday, 3,000 firefighters were battling the blaze.
Fire crews hoped today's weather might bring some relief.
"The outlook should be getting better because of the weather change," said L.A. County Fire Dept. Capt. Kurt Schaefer, forecasting lower temperatures and calmer winds than on Wednesday and Thursday.
By late Thursday, flames had consumed only one home, a detached garage, three outbuildings and a storage facility at Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Lab in the Simi Hills.
"You can't believe it," said Oak Park resident Roger Newton, who watched as a fire department helicopter performed a water drop on his backyard. "You don't think it's real. It's certainly beginning to look real."
While engine companies protected threatened homes, firefighters used bulldozers and water drops in the uninhabited canyons to slow the spread of the blaze, giving officials time to perform evacuations.
Some residents refused to leave.
"I want to look over my house," said Marilyn Blistein, an Oak Park resident. "Nobody will protect it like I will. When it gets really close, I'm out of here."
Photo: Firefighters battle a major brush fire for the second day in the West Hills area. (Gene Blevins / Special to the Daily News)
In Old Agoura, one family packed up six cars with clothes and photos, a rooster and two chickens, but did not leave when the evacuation order came.
"We're ready to leave, but we're hoping we don't have to," said Jackie Ramuno. "We've been really careful watching the skies and listening to the helicopters."
At the Oak Park Mall, shops were shuttered and parking spaces remained empty.
"Many of the students' parents evacuated at 4 a.m. so they called to cancel," said Maraleen Gradle, director of instruction at the Bridell Institute, a learning center.
Sharon Rashti shut down her beauty supply business by midday. She said the Topanga Fire seemed more threatening than previous area blazes.
"As fearful as the other one was, we could at least see the whole fire, not like this one," she said. "You could see this one coming over the hill there, but you don't know where it is."
Fatigued firefighters rested wherever they could, some sleeping atop unused hose lines.
When the flames returned to Bell and Box canyons, sheriff's deputies allowed residents to return home for 15 minutes to collect valuables.
Sisters Cathy and Caryn Cornell scribbled a list of valuables they planned to collect once they entered their home, including photographs, videos and important documents.
A voluntary evacuation was called in a neighborhood of West Hills, north of Roscoe Boulevard between Valley Circle Boulevard and Shoup Avenue, after burning embers ignited spot fires in the backyards of several homes.
"I was in disbelief," said Rodger Chartrand Jr., 43, a software salesman whose Jason Avenue home abuts Chatsworth Reservoir. "I didn't think it could come this far. I felt like I was going to start bawling."
Chartrand said he used three garden hoses to fight the blaze until fire crews arrived.
"They yelled 'Charge' and opened up the hoses," he said. "It literally blew the flames out."
Photo: An equipment shed goes up in flames in the Box Canyon area on Thursday. (Gene Blevins / Special to the Daily News)
To help fund the cost of fighting the stubborn fire - estimated at $1 million by Thursday morning - Los Angeles County officials declared a local disaster, paving the way for state and federal aid.
County officials said they would ask the governor and state Office of Emergency Services for a state emergency declaration. That would help loosen state regulations such as purchasing and bidding requirements and allow state reimbursement for a share of local costs, officials said.
Meanwhile, the state was providing equipment and had obtained a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help cover the costs for things such as assembling field camps and mobilizing and demobilizing personnel and equipment.
OES also helped coordinate bringing in 16 strike teams, with five fire engines each, from outside Southern California.
The U.S. Forest Service provided at least 22 aircraft to the Topanga Fire effort, including 11 air tanker planes that can each drop from 500 gallons to 3,000 gallons of water or retardant and five heavy helicopters that can also drop up to 3,000 gallons, according to Forest Service spokeswoman Mary Bowman.
Crews were battling at least two smaller Southern California wildfires as well, including one that burned at least 1,160 acres in San Timoteo Canyon in Riverside County and the Thurman Fire in San Bernardino County.
Staff Writers Troy Anderson, Beth Barrett and Harrison Sheppard contributed to this report.
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Josh Kleinbaum, (818) 713-3669
josh.kleinbaum@dailynews.com
The Conejo Valley, Oak Park, Simi Valley and Moorpark unified school districts anticipate being open today, but Las Virgenes Unified will be closed, officials said Thursday.
In addition, Chatsworth Park, Justice and Pomelo elementary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District and Sierra Canyon elementary and middle schools in Chatsworth will be closed.
California State University, Northridge, had not yet determined whether classes would be held.
Here are phone numbers and Web sites to check for updated information:
Las Virgenes Unified, www.lvusd.k12.ca.us, (818) 880-4000.
Conejo Valley Unified, www.conejo.k12.ca.us, (805) 497-9511.
Oak Park Unified, www.opusd.k12.ca.us, (818) 735-3200.
Simi Valley Unified, www.simi.k12.ca.us, (805) 520-6500.
Moorpark Unified, www.mrpk.k12.ca.us, (805) 378-6300.
California State University, Northridge, www.csun.edu.
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