California wildfires burn dozens of homes, ski resort

[September 12, 2024]  By Jorge Garcia and Andrew Hay

WRIGHTWOOD, California (Reuters) -Three Southern California wildfires torched dozens of mountain homes, tore through a ski resort and forced thousands to evacuate in towns and cities east of Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Around 40 homes and cabins burned in the villages of Mount Baldy and Wrightwood and flames damaged lifts at the nearby Mountain High ski resort, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported.

The San Bernardino County blaze, named the Bridge Fire, exploded to 48,000 acres (19,000 hectares) in 48 hours, becoming the largest in the state. By Wednesday afternoon the three fires had blackened over 105,000 acres of scrub, brush and forest, an area a third the size of Los Angeles.

"In recent history, this is the fire that has been the most dramatic over a single day period," LAFD spokesman Fred Fielding said of the Bridge Fire, as flames burned on a nearby hillside.

Mike Devestern, 55 and a Wrightwood resident, said he was stunned by the speed with which the fire arrived on his doorstep and the chaos of watching his community flee Tuesday afternoon.

"It was like a movie yesterday," he said. "Everybody ... trying to get out of here before they got burnt."

The Airport Fire in Orange and Riverside counties destroyed dozens of homes in El Cariso Village and Decker Canyon as it grew to over 23,000 acres, according to authorities and local news reports.

"There was no more exit, you had to drive through the flames to get out," Ryan LaMothe, whose home was destroyed by the Airport Fire, told local television news station KTLA5.

Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency and said he had secured federal funds to fight the fires.

Tinder-dry scrub and gusting winds are driving flames up steep canyons and mountainsides during a severe heatwave that scientists blame on climate change. Over a dozen injuries to civilians and firefighters have been reported. Cooler conditions are expected later in the week.

The Bridge Fire burns the mountain communities to the northeast of Los Angeles, in Wrightwood, California, U.S. September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Ringo Chiu

People taped gaps around their doors and schools closed at least 10 districts because of smoky air from another blaze in San Bernardino County, the Line Fire.

The county sheriff's office arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly starting the blaze on Sept. 5.

Approximately 18,000 people have been ordered to evacuate homes in San Bernardino County neighborhoods like East Highlands which butt up against the mountains.

Law enforcement said they were patrolling the largely deserted neighborhoods to prevent looting.

Wildfires are a natural occurrence in the area but the ability of firefighters to just let them burn has been hampered by people moving there after being priced out of Los Angeles. Many new homeowners struggle to get fire insurance.

The area of land burned in California this year is already double that of 2023, when the state enjoyed more moisture, according to data from California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CAL FIRE.

The United States is experiencing a strong wildfire year with 6.9 million acres burned to date, compared with an annual, full-year average of around 7 million acres over the last decade, according to National Interagency Fire Center data.

(Reporting Jorge Garcia in Wrightwood, California and Andrew Hay in Canon, New Mexico; editing by Donna Bryson, Marguerita Choy, Bill Berkrot and Diane Craft)

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