Brushfires plague Southern California

The fires forced evacuations in some areas

August 30, 1999
Web posted at: 2:32 p.m. EDT (1832 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Firefighters Monday battled brushfires all over Southern California that have scorched thousands of acres, forced evacuations, damaged buildings and posed a threat to power lines.

Efforts to extinguish the fires were hampered by strong, erratic winds, steep terrain, and a recent heat wave that sent temperatures soaring to 100 degrees.

One blaze, near Lake Arrowhead, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, has consumed 17,000 acres of brush and forest in an area called Apple Valley.

About 400 residents, hikers, campers and vacationers were evacuated over the weekend. Thirty structures were burned, including at least one home.

An illegal campfire is blamed as the cause of the Apple Valley blaze, which erupted Saturday afternoon.

U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Melody Lardner said homes, underground gas lines and high voltage power lines are threatened.

Strong winds hampered firefighters' efforts to extinguish the fires

Elsewhere:

• Campgrounds and a trailer park were evacuated over the weekend near Lake Hemet, 60 miles east of Los Angeles, because of a fire that has burned more than 2,500 acres.
  
  
• A fire burning near Palmdale in northern Los Angeles County has consumed 1,500 acres, and forced the evacuation of a nearby ranch with 40 horses. The horses were safely relocated.
  
  
• 1,000 acres have burned in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa, forcing the evacuation of about 4,000 people including campers, hikers and property owners over the weekend. No structures have been lost.
  
  
• A fire near Banning, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, burned more than 1,500 acres and destroyed an abandoned house, a sailboat, several cars and six "shed-type" outbuildings, officials said. No injuries were reported. California Department of Forestry officials said the cause of the fire is "suspicious" and under investigation.

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