Wildfire Brings Nervous Moments for Residents
By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS
Rafu staff writer
Saturday, May 12, 2007

Wildfire destroys more than 800 acres, forces evacuation near Griffith Park.


MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS/Rafu Shimpo
Mariko Fukuda of Los Feliz shows the belongings she hastily packed in her car after being ordered to evacuate to Marshall High School from her home by firefighters on Tuesday night.

LOS FELIZ.–”They told us to evacuate around 8:30, so we packed up and got out of there,” said Mariko Fukuda, as she parked her car next to the gymnasium at Marshall High School near Griffith Park.

The Los Feliz resident was one of a few dozen residents who hurriedly left their homes Tuesday night, after a wind-whipped brush fire in the Hollywood Hills roared across the mountains just east of the Hollywood sign and threatened exclusive neighborhoods and land­marks such as the Greek Theater.

“We threw the most important things into our cars and left as fast as we could,” Fukuda said.

The evacuation center was set up at the high school by the American Red Cross, with several groups of Marshall students volunteering to help get residents settled for the night. About 200 cots were set up in the gymnasium, but only approximately 40 people, many with pets, had registered by midnight.

Dale Chang had just arrived home from a business trip when his girlfriend called to tell him he might not be coming home just yet.

“I saw the news in Dallas and my girlfriend said that everything was fine so far, but you never know,” said Chang, who lives on Shannon Road, very near one of the most involved portions of the fire, which by 11 p.m. Tuesday had charred more than 600 acres.

“We came here to register our names, but I think we may stay at a hotel tonight,” Chang said, admit­ting that he was quite nervous, although he knew firefighters were making progress.

“I’m glad everybody’s safe,” he said.

At the fire command center in front of the Greek Theater at the southern entrance to Griffith Park, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa led a news conference which included L.A. Police Chief William Bratton, interim Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Doug­las Barry and City Councilman Tom LaBonge. The mayor began the briefing, carried live on several lo­cal news stations, with a plea to residents to comply with the evacuation orders.

“They’re knocking on your doors to save you from a potential tragedy,” Villaraigosa said.

Chief Barry said that the city had 77 engine companies on scene, with six hand crews and five helicopters still in the air late in the evening.

“What made this fire particularly challenging was the steep terrain and swirling winds. Even though the winds were not blowing very hard, they kept changing direction, and that made it very challenging” he said. Extremely low humidity, combined with temperatures into the 90s in some places the last few days have provided for a classic Southern California wild fire condition. The National Weather Service had issued a warning of extreme fire danger through Wednesday.

By Wednesday afternoon, the fire had scorched 817 acres and damaged at least one home. Fire offi­cials said the blaze would be contained by Thursday, barring any more heavy winds.

LaBonge, who represents the district where the fire was burning, appeared especially disheartened by the day’s events. He said Tuesday’s fire was the worst he’d seen in the canyon since the 1961 Beechwood Can­yon-Hollywoodland fire and that the “dance of the fire reminds me of how Mick Jagger dances on stage.”

“This is a very special place for me and a very special place for the city,” the councilman said before the news conference. “The park has been terribly hurt tonight by this fire. Very Historic spots like Dante’s View, the bird sanctuary, Glendale Peak, all these places people hike to have been destroyed by fire.” He said that he intends to push for rebuilding Dante’s View, which was obliterated by fire in 1989.

To complicate matters, at least 1,000 homes and businesses in Los Feliz lost electricity when flames burned some power lines, leaving many of the roads leading into Griffith Park in the dark.

Griffith Park, which sprawls over more than 4,000 acres, was evacuated mid-afternoon, as were the nearby Los Angeles Zoo and the Gene Autry Western Museum.

As evening fell, the fire–which had seem to begin to lay down– exploded back to life, sending towers of smoke into the air which could be clearly seen from Palos Verdes to Pasadena. An orange glow haloed the hillside in an eerie display that drew crowds of residents to places like the Glendale Avenue bridge just south of the park. Smoke hampered rush-hour traffic as it blew across the Golden State Freeway near the fire zone.

Chief Bratton confirmed that the police were holding a man suspected of being involved with the origins of the blaze, but that he had no other informa­tion. A man in his 20s suffered burns in the fire and was detained on suspicion of smoking in a restricted area. Fire offi­cials said the man apparently fell asleep while smoking a cigarette at a homeless encampment. The man, who was being treated for second- and third-degree burns at the Grossman Burn Center, was cited for smoking in a restricted area, fire officials told reporters at the scene.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued an alert, warning residents that the fire has made air qual­ity poor in central parts of Los Angeles County and the east San Fernando Val­ley, especially for residents with heart or lung disease, emphysema, asthma and chronic lung problems.

Back at Marshall High, Fukuda locked her station wagon and pointed out the most valuable items she had brought from home.

“My son was captain of his football team and these are all his trophies,” she said, pointing to the cluster of awards in the front passenger seat. “He told me to be sure to take all of them.”