Firefighters Report Progress Against 15,500-Acre Blaze

Firefighters reported “real progress” Friday evening in their five-day battle against a stubborn wildfire that had scorched more than 15,500 acres in the foothills of northwest Los Angeles County, destroying at least three houses and a motor home.

“The winds have died down a lot,” county fire Capt. Greg Cleveland said. “Everything is looking real good.”

The night before, with winds gusting erratically at up to 25 mph, about 200 teenagers had been evacuated from two county juvenile probation camps near the hamlet of Lake Hughes as the flames continued to spread.

In all, more than 1,000 residents had fled the fire, which ranged for almost 10 miles along Pine Canyon, a brush-filled gulch that marks the course of the San Andreas fault.

The teens from Camps Mendenhall and Munz near Lake Hughes were taken to the Challenger Youth Memorial Center, a juvenile hall in Lancaster.

Many of the evacuees took refuge in the homes of friends and at two evacuation centers in Lancaster.

“At about 2:30 a.m., the sheriffs came through with a bullhorn and woke everybody up,” said Dave Moss, 42, of Lake Hughes. “They said, ‘Get your things and get out.’ ”

Headlights stabbed through predawn clouds of smoke as about a third of the residents left Lake Hughes, a community of about 500 in the canyon that separates the San Gabriel Mountains from the Mojave Desert. The remaining residents, Moss among them, decided to stay.

At sunrise Friday, the winds eased and air tankers resumed water drops.

Hundreds of homes were saved as almost 2,000 firefighters on the ground battled the flames with hoses and hand tools. The locals have started calling them “angels in yellow suits.”

By Friday afternoon, things were definitely looking up in Lake Hughes. The smoke had dissipated. And at 2 p.m., someone called Jonna Mavel, the bartender at the Lucky Days Cocktail Bar in the center of town, and told her to reopen the place. It was time for a drink.

Within an hour, nine customers were gathered at the bar, chatting contentedly, mostly about the fire.

“This is where the neighborhood hangs out,” said Manni Ortez, 37. “We’re family here.”

“They needed a place to get together,” Mavel said.

Like most of the people there, Brad Orcutt, 39, expressed optimism that the worst of the fire was over.

“It looks a whole lot better than yesterday,” Orcutt said.

Cleveland, the fire captain, felt the same way.

He said the blaze was just 45% contained, but it wasn’t expanding rapidly anymore. “We’re making good progress against this fire.”

The National Weather Service said temperatures would remain warm in the fire area and throughout inland Los Angeles County, with high temperatures in the 80s and 90s through the weekend and into next week.

The relative humidity should be a little above normal, which will make it feel even hotter, but damper air should help firefighters. There’s even a slight chance of scattered thundershowers over the mountains.