WRIGHTWOOD, Calif., Sept 11 (Askume) – Three wildfires raged in Southern California on Wednesday, destroying dozens of mountain homes, wrecking a ski resort and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people in towns east of Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said about 40 homes and cabins were destroyed in the Mount Baldy and Wrightwood Villages, and the fire also damaged a lift at the nearby Mountain High ski resort.
The San Bernardino County fire, known as the “Bridge Fire,” spread to 48,000 acres (19,000 hectares) in 48 hours, making it the state’s largest blaze. By Wednesday afternoon, the three fires had burned more than 105,000 acres of scrub and forest, an area one-third the size of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Fred Fielding said of the bridge blaze, “This is the worst one-day fire in recent history.”
Wrightwood resident Mike DeWestern, 55, said he was shocked to see the fire spread so quickly to his doorstep and watched as people from the community fled the scene Tuesday afternoon.
“Yesterday was like a movie,” he said, “everyone … was trying to get out of here before the fire burned down.”
The Airport Fire in Orange and Riverside counties destroyed dozens of homes in El Carrizo and Decker Canyon Village and spread to more than 23,000 acres, according to officials and local news reports.
“There’s no way out, you have to walk through the flames to get out,” Ryan LaMothe, whose home was destroyed in the airport fire, told local television news station KTLA5.
Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency and said he had secured federal funding to fight the fires.
Scientists believe that intense heat caused the fires to flare up in steep valleys and hills. Climate change is believed to be the cause of this extreme heat. More than a dozen civilians and firefighters were reportedly injured. The weather is expected to remain cool this weekend.
People taped off doors and schools were closed in at least 10 areas because of smoke from another fire in San Bernardino County, the Line Fire.
The county sheriff’s office arrested a 34-year-old man accused of setting the fire on Sept. 5.
About 18,000 people in San Bernardino County’s Eastern Highlands and other areas near the mountains were ordered to evacuate their homes.
Law enforcement officials said they were patrolling the largely deserted area to prevent looting.
Wildfires are a natural occurrence in the region, but as people move to live in Los Angeles, firefighters’ ability to control them is limited. Many new homeowners have difficulty obtaining fire insurance.
Twice as much land has burned in California this year compared to 2023, when the state was much wetter, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the United States is currently experiencing its worst year for wildfires so far, with 6.9 million acres burned, while the full-year average over the past decade is 7 million acres.
