Calif. Blazes Prompt Emergency Declaration

Gov. Schwarzenegger Declares State of Emergency As Fires Rage, Threaten Homes

(CBS/AP)  Updated at 6:00 p.m. Eastern

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Monterey counties Friday as wildfires burned large areas and threaten homes.

The order Friday comes as firefighters battled two blazes in the Angeles National Forest above Los Angeles' northeastern suburbs and mop up the remnants of an overnight fire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula that singed six houses.

As many as 1,500 people had to leave the wealthy seaside community of Rancho Palos Verdes overnight, while residents of about 870 homes were urged to voluntarily leave La Canada Flintridge, a dozen miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles on the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Bill Johnson owns one of the homes now under voluntary evacuation, reports CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes.

How close have the flames gotten to his house?

"Well if I had marshmallows, I could probably make some s'mores," he said.

Water-dropping helicopters worked through the night, as the ominous red glow of flames illuminated the darkness. A lack of wind let the helicopters operate in the canyons, Los Angeles County fire Inspector Steve Zermeno said.

The Rancho Palos Verdes fire erupted late Thursday and spread rapidly. Hundreds of firefighters and their engines were deployed to protect homes in the fire's path.

"The fire was stopped right at the backyards of those homes," said county fire Chief Deputy John Tripp.

Daybreak revealed an ash-covered landscape with no flames apparent. The burn area was officially listed at 100 acres with 35 percent containment, but Tripp said both numbers were expected to significantly rise when mapping was complete.

One end of the fire remained open in an inaccessible area and Tripp said that remained a concern.

"As the heat comes up today, it could cause that fire to come out of there and come back into the neighborhoods," he said. "We are not out of the woods yet."

Fire crews waged a fierce overnight fight to protect expensive homes standing on ridges above finger canyons.

"They were doing battle from the word go. It was a struggle," said fire Capt. Mike Brown. "They were dealing with some treacherous terrain ... the fire moving up canyon and dry brush. They had to make a stand."

The wealthy communities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula south of Los Angeles are in an area known for horse trails, spectacular Pacific Ocean views, pricey real estate and exclusive golf clubs, including the Trump National Golf Club owned by Donald Trump.

The Terranea Resort, a luxury hotel a couple miles from the fire, opened its door to locals who had to evacuate, but only two families had taken advantage of the offer by midnight, said hotel spokeswoman Wendy Haase.

The fire near La Canada Flintridge began to kick up late Thursday afternoon, a day after it began in the Angeles National Forest, and flames moved slowly down the slopes of the San Gabriels. By early Friday it was estimated to cover more than 2 square miles and was about 10 percent contained.

The fire jumped a highway overnight and moved near homes in the Arroyo Seco, said Jennifer Sanchez, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.

The arroyo, a miles-long watercourse that runs from the mountains south through neighboring Pasadena, is the location of luxury neighborhoods, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Rose Bowl.

Zermeno said the fire was being fought mainly from the air because the terrain was too steep for firefighters to reach it easily.

Still air meant the fire was growing slowly rather than being pushed, but "we'll see if nature is still on our side" later in the day, Zermeno said.

The National Weather Service predicted a third day of red flag conditions of extreme fire danger for many of California's central and southern mountain ranges because of because of low humidity and triple-digit heat that sapped moisture from grass and brush. However, there were no predictions of significant winds in the fire areas. The notorious Santa Ana winds often associated with the region's worst wildfires don't usually occur until the fall.

The smell of smoke from the forest fire tinged the air in a wide area of Los Angeles, which hit 101 degrees downtown on Thursday.

To the east, another fire in the San Gabriel Mountains was 60 percent contained late Thursday after burning across more than 3 square miles, Sanchez said.

Nearly 1,000 firefighters aided by bulldozers and a fleet of water- and fire retardant-dropping aircraft worked the fire's northeastern edge.

The fire, believed caused by human action began Tuesday near a dam and reservoir in San Gabriel Canyon, a half-dozen miles above the city of Azusa.

Farther north in Monterey County, 100 homes were evacuated about four miles from the community of Soledad. The fire burned more than 2,000 acres of steep grasslands, or more than 3 square miles, since it started Thursday afternoon, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Capt. James Dellamonica said. The blaze has not been contained.

To the west, in the San Bernardino National Forest in Riverside County, another fire had blackened about 1 1/2 square miles by Thursday evening and prompted authorities to issue a voluntary evacuation of 12 homes in the area near Hemet, said Forest Service fire spokeswoman Anabele Cornejo. She said about five people had left and that the fire was 5 percent contained.

[oneforthegipper]

PS

I pray for the day when California can break away and be its own Republic. Our's is a superior economy that has been destroyed by outsiders from places like Kentucky and Colorado and New Jersey and Ohio. Stay away.

[Ichabod09]

Stay away? No, problem. That California addictive, sociopathic, behavior characterizing much of socio-political policies just might be contagious.
No need to respond as most normal citizens of this country are aware of the twisted, self-justifying mentality that got California into it's own mess.

You pray? Really? Talk about a paradox!

[oneforthegipper]

If it wasn't for US Californians - Liberals and Conservatives together - providing the tax base for all the uneducated, unemployed, unhygenic, unhealthy, uninsured, pro-gun-shoot-each-other-in-grade-school-get-your-teenage-neighbor's-daughter-pregnant-Jerry-Springer-watching-on-the-lazy-boy-emphasyma-gasping-semi-illiterates of the Midwest and South, you'd all be dead by now and California would not be in debt. Better lose that belly before the Rapture. Too much lard even for angels to help ya.

[SkirtLifter]

Conservative SoCal? WHAT...are you nuts? There ain't no dern conservatives within a hunnert miles!

[ubrew12]

Never heard of Orange County, I take it...

[ubrew12]

Global Warming to conservative Southern California: 'Do you hear me now?'

[gramto8]

As of 2005, the most recent data I could find, California received only $0.78 for each $1.00 they sent to DC. They were number 43 of the 50 states. Number 1 was New Mexico who received $2.03 for each dollar.

[ubrew12]

The Wests decades-long drought is 100% global warming: forest turning to desert. And its going to get worse unless we get our act together.