Flames rage in Quail Canyon, near Gorman (top), on Saturday night, May 19, about 10:30 p.m. Spot fires kept breaking out along Interstate-5 and through the mountains as winds began to rise Saturday. Bottom, a State Parks employee quickly puts out a burning patch along the freeway.
3000 Asked To Evacuate
Just as many on this mountain were finally unpacking those evacuation boxes so hastily assembled during the Day fire last September, a sudden 2,050 acre blaze Saturday May 19, between Hungry Valley and Quail Lake, caused many to hesitate.
The Gorman fire started about 2:00 p.m. Saturday. Los Angeles County Fire Department Captain Michael D. Brown said by 10:30 p.m. Saturday, 3,000 people had been evacuated from the area, including visitors to the Hungry Valley Off Highway Vehicular Recreational Area.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated. There was an early report of a vehicle fire, but that had not been confirmed, Brown said Saturday night.
Brown said three helicopters were called in, two from Los Angeles County and one from Los Angeles City. He said 16 handcrews and 30 engines were on the scene at 10:30 p.m. when the wind kicked up to over 35 miles per hour Saturday night.
The fire was 100 per cent contained on Monday May 21, bringing the first fire of the season in this area—even before ‘high fire season’ officially begins—to a close. Meanwhile, with blazes on Catalina Island and Griffith Park in L.A. as other tragic warnings, the message is obvious: Walk outside and look at your property. Is it cleared of brush to create defensible space around your home? June 9 is the date by which Kern County requires brush clearing to be completed.
This is part of the May 25, 2007 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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