Wildfire Blazes In The Angeles National Forest

Firefighters late Sunday were continuing to battle a blaze in the Angeles National Forest that had scorched more than 3,600 acres and forced the evacuation of campgrounds known to draw up to 12,000 visitors on Labor Day weekend.

As of late Sunday, there were no reports of injuries or property damage caused by the fire, which started about 2:15 p.m. in the San Gabriel mountains north of Azusa.

The fire was pushing north on steep terrain toward the Sheep Mountain Wilderness area and was about 5% contained, said John Wagner, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. About 300 firefighters were battling the blaze with the help of air tankers and helicopters dropping water and fire retardant from above.

The fire began about 3 1/2 miles east of California 39, midway between Camp Williams Resort and Burro Canyon Shooting Park, Wagner said. The cause of the fire remained under investigation. Soon after it started, a large plume of smoke could be seen rising in an otherwise blue sky covering the Los Angeles Basin.

The area where the fire was burning, along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, is a popular spot on holiday weekends, particularly in summer. Visitors park three-deep off a two-lane road a few yards from the stream. It's also a favorite destination for hikers and gold prospectors, even though panning for gold is illegal.

The area is patrolled by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, California Highway Patrol and U.S. Forest Service, which has jurisdiction over the 640,000-acre Angeles National Forest.

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Hundreds of people live in trailers and cabins in the vicinity of Camp Williams Resort, which is located on the East Fork and includes a campground, mobile home park and restaurant. The area on holiday weekends has always been a law enforcement challenge, particularly for the handful of Forest Service rangers stationed there.

Last week, the area immediately east of the Camp Williams Cafe was teeming with visitors who were cooling off in the creek and picnicking. Some of them, however, were cited by rangers for building bonfires beneath large signs that said such fires were prohibited.

Standing outside the cafe, Jill Coverdale watched the small red-orange flames burning at the top of Shoemaker Canyon Road.

She was one of the few residents who stayed behind, ignoring mandatory evacuation orders as the wildfire burned along the ridge of the canyon, just yards from the Camp Williams Mobile Home Park.

"It was unreal," Coverdale recalled. "The flames were huge, and the campground was packed with people."

The seven-year resident said she began taking photos of her home. She packed the family's RV with food, important documents and clothes. She also loaded her two Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

"We were ready to go."

But she and her daughter, Danielle, who lives next door, chose to wait it out when they saw firefighters pushing the flames away.

Surrounded by fire engines and dozens of firefighters, Coverdale said she wasn't worried.

"We got plenty of back-up here," she said.

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Quake Of 7.4 Magnitude Hits Off El Salvador Coast-USGS

Aug 27 (Reuters) - A major earthquake of 7.4 magnitude hit in the Pacific Ocean about 78 miles (125 km) off the coast of El Salvador late Sunday night, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

No destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is expected, and there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

The center said, however, that although it did not know if a tsunani had been generated, a warning was in effect for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico.

The earthquake struck 74 miles (120 km) south of Usulutan, El Salvador, at a depth of 33 miles, the Geological Survey said.

There were no immediate reports of damage to coastal areas or to shipping.

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California Declares Emergency As Wildfire Advances

(Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in three Northern California counties on Wednesday after a wildfire that has already destroyed 64 homes advanced with 75-foot flames on a tiny community at the doorstep of a national park.

Firefighters scrambled to head off the so-called Ponderosa Fire, which had scorched 24,000 acres, before it reached the outskirts of Mineral, a community of less than 200 people just south of Lassen National Volcanic Park.

Authorities issued an evacuation warning for Mineral as flames roared 75 feet high on the side of Highway 36, the main route into town, and burned through a rocky canyon where firefighters struggled to make a stand.

Crews also bulldozed a trench to serve as a last line of defense between the fire and the town as thick smoke and ash choked the air for miles.

"All the vegetation is ready to burn and so once the afternoon winds begin to blow up the canyon, those fuels burn aggressively and you have what we call blow-up conditions," Chico Fire Division Chief Shane Lauderdale told Reuters.

"It pushes the firefighters out of the area they are working and goes over the (containment) line and creates situations where we have to back out," Lauderdale said.

Beth Glenn, who said her family owns most of the businesses in tiny Mineral, said the town survived a fire that roared up the same canyon in the 1990s, but she worried the Ponderosa blaze could be worse.

"I don't know what's going to happen tonight," said Glenn, 58, whose motel and general store in the heart of Mineral were being used by fire officials to disseminate information to residents.

Glenn said the fire had prompted cancellations for the motel during its typically busiest month of August, and she was forced to tell guests not to come after losing power for five days.

TWO SMALL COMMUNITIES SAVED

The lightning-sparked fire was threatening Mineral after crews had turned it away from two small communities to the west, Shingletown and Manton.

All told, more than 3,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the rural California counties of Tehama and Shasta, about 125 miles north of the state capital, Sacramento, although evacuation orders had been lifted by Wednesday afternoon from Shingletown and several other areas.

Highway 44, the main artery into Lassen Volcanic National Park, was also reopened, although portions of the Lassen National Park Highway were closed along with some trails and campgrounds, according to an alert on the park's website.

The blaze was 50 percent contained as of Wednesday afternoon, fire officials said, but they listed 500 homes, 10 commercial properties and 30 outbuildings as still at risk of being consumed by the explosive fire.

Officials say 64 homes had already been lost, along with 20 other structures.

The Ponderosa fire is one of dozens burning across drought-parched states in the U.S. West, including a blaze that destroyed dozens of homes this week in Washington state and another that threatened a town in Southern California.

"Firefighters are working aggressively to build approximately 11 miles of line and strengthen existing containment lines," the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on its website.

"As additional resources arrive, firefighters will continue to diligently defend structures, construct containment lines and build bulldozer perimeter lines," it said.

Two firefighters have suffered minor injuries fighting the blaze.

Brown's state-of-emergency declaration, which frees up funds to help combat the fires, cited the Ponderosa blaze, along with the Chips Fire in nearby Plumas County, which is roughly twice as big.

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