Wildfires burn out of control in Southern California

The Airport Fire burns on the hillside and is seen over Lake Elsinore in California, USA on September 10, 2024. | Photo credit: Reuters

A cloud of smoke billowed into the sky east of Los Angeles on Tuesday (September 10, 2024) as firefighters battled three large wildfires that raged amid a brutal heat wave and threatened thousands of homes and other structures.

Evacuation orders were issued Tuesday night as flames grew, including for parts of the popular ski town of Big Bear and the entire community of Wrightwood, home to about 4,500 people. Officials urged people to leave their homes.

Also read: California’s largest wildfire grows in size, spreading across the US West

“There’s no property worth risking your life for,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Fires have regularly raged in Wrightwood and surrounding forests in recent years. Wrightwood is a picturesque mountain town 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Los Angeles known for its 1930s cabins. Officials expressed frustration in 2016 when only about half of residents obeyed orders to leave home.

Janice Quick, president of the Wrightwood Chamber of Commerce, said a friend texted her to tell her his house was on fire, while another friend could see embers raining down on his home through his Ring camera.

Ms Quick said she was eating outside with friends in the late afternoon and was showered with embers the size of her thumbnail, which fell on the table and made a clinking noise.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before, and I’ve been in fires before,” said Ms. Quick, who has lived in Wrightwood for 45 years.

In neighboring Orange County, firefighters used bulldozers, helicopters and planes to control a fast-moving blaze called the Airport Fire that started Monday and grew to about 3 square miles (8 square kilometers) in a matter of hours. Officials said the fire was started by sparks from heavy equipment used by public workers.

As of Tuesday night, it had scorched more than 30 square miles (78 square kilometers) and was heading toward mountainous terrain in neighboring Riverside County with no containment, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi said. It burned down some communications towers atop one peak, though so far officials said they had no reports of damage that disrupted police or fire communications signals in the area.

Mr. Concialdi said the fire was burning far from Orange County homes, but there are 36 recreational cabins in the area. He said officials did not yet know whether the cabins were damaged or destroyed by the fire.

Two firefighters suffering from heat-related injuries and a resident suffering from smoke inhalation were treated at a hospital and released.

Sherri Fankhauser, her husband and their daughter set up lawn chairs Tuesday and watched helicopters drop water on a blazing hillside a few hundred yards from their Trabuco Canyon home.

They did not evacuate the house, even though a mandatory evacuation order had been in place on their street since Monday. A neighbor helped Fankhauser’s 89-year-old mother-in-law evacuate the home, Fankhauser said. The flames subsided last night but flared up again in the morning.

“You can see the fire is starting on the ridge now,” Mrs Fankhauser said on Tuesday afternoon. “It’s getting a bit scary now.” She said she was confident crews could get the situation under control and firefighters were keeping her informed.

Meanwhile, in the San Bernardino National Forest, about 65,600 homes and buildings were at risk due to the Line Fire, including those under mandatory evacuation and those under evacuation warnings, nearly double the number from the previous day.

Residents along the south shore of Big Bear Lake were told to leave the area Tuesday night, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. It’s unclear how many people have been affected in the area, which is a popular destination for fishermen, bikers and hikers.

The fire burned more than 51 square miles (132 square kilometers) of grass and brush and blanketed the area with a thick cloud of black smoke. Strong winds forced several districts in the area to close schools until the end of the week due to safety concerns. State fire managers said three firefighters were injured since the fire was reported Thursday.