Ferocious wildfires scorch Calif. as extreme heat wave starts to ease
LOS ANGELES -- Firefighters worked to make gains against Southern California wildfires as an intense heat wave eased slightly Tuesday, but officials warned nearby communities to stay alert and obey any evacuation orders.
Two adjacent fires in the San Gabriel Mountains 20 miles northeast of Los Angeles remained uncontained but had not destroyed any homes while their combined size grew to more than eight square miles.
The fire came so fast Steven Carter stopped packing to defend his home.
"Someone started beating on the door like they were breaking it in and saying there is a fire," he told CBS News' Carter Evans. "And immediately we got the hoses and said lets go."
His house, and the others survived, but there was a moment when Denny Valdez thought the fire might win.
"The entire hillside behind me was completely engulfed," said Valdez, who estimated the flames were at least 200 feet tall.
About 770 homes in the foothill city of Duarte were under evacuation orders and residents of Bradbury and Monrovia just to the west were urged to be ready to leave immediately if given the word.
"Our big threat today is still that left side of the fire, the west flank," said Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp. "There's a fire line that goes from the bottom of the slope all the way up to the top of the mountain."
A 4 a.m. wind shift started bringing the fire down the mountains but a helicopter making nighttime water drops slowed the advance. Significant progress, however, was made overnight on the east side of Duarte, where flames crept down to the bottom of slopes behind homes.
The other fire in what was dubbed the San Gabriel Complex forced evacuation of 69 people.
The fires erupted separately Monday and scared homeowners before burning mostly away from the cities.
Charlie Downing, out of breath and with his shirt off because of the heat, said when he first smelled fire and felt heat that he ran outside of his house and was astonished by the size and nearness of the flames.
"I came running over just to look and it was 15 to 20 feet in the air," Downing told reporters. "By the time I came back and told my grandma and my kids to get in the car, it was right by the car."
He and two neighbors sprayed the flames with their yard hoses until firefighters arrived minutes later.
Two towering columns of smoke rose from the mountain range, reminiscent of a 2009 fire that scorched 250 square miles of the Angeles National Forest as it burned for weeks.
Elsewhere, crews made progress against a week-old blaze in rugged coastal mountains west of Santa Barbara, boosting containment to 70 percent.
About 270 homes and other buildings were threatened by the blaze, which has charred more than 12 square miles since Wednesday. Authorities planned to begin lifting mandatory evacuations there on Wednesday.
Another wildfire in the desert close to the Mexico border southeast of San Diego was holding at nearly 12 square miles after forcing the evacuation of about 75 people from a ranching community. Temperatures in the 90s were expected there Tuesday.
Other blazes burned wide swaths across Arizona and New Mexico, where firefighters also faced blistering heat.
In New Mexico, a 28-square-mile fire that erupted last week and destroyed 24 homes in the mountains south of Albuquerque showed signs of slowing down. Higher humidity has allowed crews to strengthen lines, and some evacuees would be allowed to return home on Tuesday.
In eastern Arizona, a fire doubled to nearly 42 square miles and led officials to warn a community of 300 residents to prepare to evacuate. The blaze on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation was not moving quickly toward the community of Cedar Creek because of sparse vegetation and shifting winds.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency for Navajo County to free up funds to help fight a wildfire that has charred about 56 square miles so far.
Ducey made the announcement Tuesday afternoon, saying the declaration will release state dollars to assist with local response and recovery efforts and ensure appropriate state agencies are at the ready should they be called upon. The fire began June 15 and its cause remains under investigation.
It's 20 percent contained and remains about 2 ½ miles north of the sparsely-populated community of Cedar Creek. Show Low, Pinetop-Lakeside and the immediate surrounding areas also remain under pre-evacuation notices.
While temperatures in the Southwest have slightly eased, they are still at a dangerous level.
Excessive-heat warnings in Southern California have largely retreated to the mountains and deserts, and areas closer to the coast are experiencing significantly cooler weather.
The National Weather Service notes that at 1 p.m. Tuesday the temperature in Malibu Canyon west of Los Angeles was 32 degrees cooler than the same time Monday, when searing triple-digit highs baked the region.
Temperatures farther inland, however, have been similar to or slightly warmer than Monday's. The cool-down will extend to all areas Wednesday and Thursday before another warm-up begins Friday.
For a second day, Las Vegas set a record daytime high temperature on Tuesday, reaching 113 degrees.
National Weather Service meteorologist Barry Pierce says that tops the old mark of 111 degrees for the date set in 1954. It follows Monday's 115, which broke the record of 113 set in 2015.
Pierce says overnight low temperatures are also setting records. The overnight low of 91 degrees on Tuesday beat the record of 87 set in in 2015, and marked the earliest date that the nighttime temperature remained above 90 degrees.
Foster says there might be slight relief Thursday and Friday, when high temperatures are forecast between 105 and 110 degrees. The hot spell isn't unusual for late June in Las Vegas.
In 2013, Sin City sizzled for three days in a row of record high temperatures.
A German man visiting a Tucson resort has been found dead after going missing during a hike in record-breaking heat on Sunday.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department says 33-year-old Marcus Turowski was found around 7 a.m. on Tuesday by a search and rescue crew consisting of several agencies.
Turowski is now the sixth person in Arizona to die in heat-related incidents since this weekend.
Authorities say he was hiking with 57-year-old Stefan Guenster, who was found dead on Sunday. A third man who was with them is recovering.
Four people in the Tucson area died Sunday, when the temperature reached 115 degrees.
One was 54-year-old Jana Kirkpatrick, of Piedmont, Alabama. Another was 18-year-old Adrienna Rasmussen. Rassmussen was studying in Tucson but is from Washington state.