The 45,000-acre Station Fire — which is 5 percent contained — is being fueled by dry air and protected by the steep terrain in and around the Angeles National Forest.
“The fire essentially can get up and run any time and has a mind of its own,” Mike Dietrich, U.S. Forest Service incident commander, said Monday on CNN’s “American Morning.”
California’s near-dozen wildfires spread to threaten more than 12,000 homes today after two firefighters died Sunday.
The firefighters, whose names have not been released, were killed when their vehicle tumbled down the side of a mountain on the northwestern front of the fires where one fire, known as the Station Fire, has already burned more than 20,000 acres, according to the governor’s office.
More neighborhoods were evacuated overnight as the fire pushed in three directions. Officials said the blaze had not yet burned to the top of Mt. Wilson, where critical communications centers are located, but they said that area remains highly vulnerable.
The fire destroyed at least 18 structures in the Angeles National Forest, and officials said several homes were destroyed overnight south of Acton. They said the fire could double in size again today.
“We are making progress. But it is very slow and very dangerous,” said the L.A. County Fire Department’s Mike Dietrich at a news conference this morning. “We have to wait for the fire to come to us.”
Protecting the TV and radio transmitters atop Mt. Wilson was a top priority overnight for firefighters.
The two firefighters were killed when they drove off the side of a treacherous road in the Mount Gleason area, south of Acton, around 2:30 p.m., said Los Angeles County Deputy Chief Mike Bryant. He did not release their identities or other details.
“This accident is tragic,’’ Bryant said, choking up as he spoke yesterday evening. “This is a very difficult time for LA County Fire Department and the men and women that serve day in, day out.’’
The fire had churned through more than 42,500 acres of chaparral and forest, from the edge of metropolitan Los Angeles up to pine-clad ridges and down toward the Mojave desert. More than 12,500 homes were under threat and 6,600 under mandatory evacuation. Eighteen residences were destroyed, fire officials said, mostly in the Big Tujunga Canyon area.
Image by Anthony Citrano. Check out his unbelievable set of images of the Station Fire.
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