A firefighter tries to extinguish a wildfire outside the settlement of Kustarevka in Ryazan region, some 340km southeast of Moscow, today, August 10, 2010. — Reuters pic
Russia’s deadly summer heatwave could wipe up to US$14 billion (RM44.8 billion) off economic growth, economists said today, as wildfires raged on in several provinces and forecasters said sweltering weather won’t abate this week.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has sought to burnish his action-man image and minimise political fallout from wildfires and drought, flew in a firefighting plane that dropped water on a blaze southwest of Moscow, state media reported.
State-run television showed Putin wearing headphones in a cockpit, pressing buttons on a handheld control panel.
The worst heat wave on record could knock one percentage point off gross domestic product, according to estimates, weakening a recovery from a 2009 slump due to the global financial crisis.
People walk in central Moscow as a heavy smog caused by peat fires in nearby forests shrouded the capital yesterday, August 6, 2010
Dense clouds of acrid smoke from peat and forest fires choked Russia’s capital yesterday, seeping into homes and offices, diverting planes and prompting exhausted Muscovites to wear surgical masks to filter the foul air.
Air pollution surged to five times normal levels in the city of 10.5 million, the highest sustained contamination since Russia’s worst heat wave in over a century began a month ago.
“It feels like I’m in a burning house and I can’t escape,” said Yelena Petrenko, 32, who used a handkerchief to cover her mouth because drugstores she visited had run out of facemasks.
Officials urged Muscovites to stay indoors because of the dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and fine particles in the air. Weather forecasts said the smoke, which has reached even underground metro stations, would persist until Monday.
Three fire service staff were arrested today in connection with a warehouse blaze which claimed the lives of four firefighters.
Ian Reid, 44, Darren Yates-Badley, 24, Ashley Stephens, 20, and John Averis, 27, died tackling the fire in November 2007.
They were among 80 firefighters at the blaze which took hold of a vegetable packing plant at Atherstone on Stour in Warwickshire.
The building was severely damaged by the suspected arson attack, and the incident has been the subject of a joint investigation by the police and the Health and Safety Executive.
A spokeswoman for Warwickshire Police said: 'This morning a 43-year-old man from Nuneaton, a 49-year-old man from Leamington and a 48-year-old man from the Warwick area presented themselves at a Warwickshire police station.
'They will be questioned on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act.'
Police said they would not be commenting on the positions of the three men in custody, but last month the Fire Brigades Union revealed that detectives were planning to arrest three managers who were involved in the incident command process.
Matt Wrack, the FBU general secretary, said: 'We are concerned at the move to arrest these individuals at this stage when all other key players have not even been interviewed.
'Evidence from our own investigation suggests there may be systemic failings.'
The Warwickshire warehouse where the four firefighters died three years ago. Three fire service staff were today arrested in connection with the deaths
Victims (clockwise from top left): Firefighters John Averis, 27, Ashley Stephens, 20, Ian Reid, 44, and Darren Yates-Badley, 24, lost their lives in the tragedy
A car on Pomeroy Street in Northampton was set on fire in what police believe is a string of arson fires
Two people are dead after a string of suspected arsons in the quiet city of Northampton in western Massachusetts early this morning, according to police and fire officials.
Northampton Police Sergeant Dorothy Clayton said that eight fires, four in houses and four in vehicles, were started during a period of about one hour beginning just before 2 a.m. this morning. The victims have not been identified.
A state official with direct knowledge of the investigations, speaking anonymously because the preliminary investigation is ongoing, said this was one of the worst cases of arson officials have seen in recent memory in the state.
At least one person died in one of the house fires. It was not immediately clear how the second victim died.
Authorities investigating nine "suspicious" fires in a western Massachusetts town that left two people dead are treating them as crimes.
Federal, state and local fire and police investigators are trying to determine what caused the fires, which local District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel says are suspicious.
Scheibel says the fires broke out across Northampton, Mass., between 2 a.m. and 3:15 a.m. Sunday. She says five fires were in buildings and others in cars.
The two victims were found on the first floor of a house that was engulfed in fire. Police have not identified them.
"It didn't take long for the house to explode," Peter Curtis, who lives next door to the home where the two victims were found, told The Hartford Courant.
Curtis said he got up at about 2 a.m. and said the sky seemed bright for the middle of the night. He looked out the window and saw the fire on the screened front porch of the house.
Some residents said someone has been setting fires for at least a year in the area between the city's downtown and small airport.
Northampton, where Smith College is located, is known for its vibrant downtown and is part of an academic community that is home to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College and Hampshire College.
Neighborhood groups have met with police and fire officials several times to discuss the problem, which in the past were nuisance fires such as leaves being set ablaze or car fires, the Courant reported.
The fires Sunday are "more scary than ever" Curtis said.
Five people were seriously injured when a lorry carry railway track smashed into a double decker bus today and overturning it in Clapham Junction, south London.Firefighters had to cut passengers free and eyewitnesses reported hearing people screaming
The overturned bus lies in the road as emergency services work at the scene
Eyewitnesses reported hearing people's screams coming from the vehicle after the collision
Firefighters had to free passengers trapped on a double-decker bus which overturned in the morning rush-hour today after a collision with a lorry.
The driver of the C3 bus was one of five people seriously hurt after the incident at around 8.30am in Clapham Junction, south London.
Police said the male driver of the lorry was arrested and is in custody at a south London police station.
The lorry was carrying railway track, which apparently smashed through the windows of the bus upon impact.
Three of the passengers were cut free by firefighters from Battersea and Wandsworth.
Police said that as well as the four passengers and the driver who had been seriously injured, a further 13 needed hospital treatment for minor injuries out of the 30 or so passengers on the bus.
Among the seriously injured was a 45-year old man, a-27-year-old woman and a third victim, aged 30, who were rushed to hospital after the crash.
Police closed off the scene in Plough Road following the smash at the junction with St John's Hill, which happened just yards from a primary school. No children were believed to be on board.
Eutan Jones, who manages a Caribbean cafe nearby, said: 'Everyone was crying out and shouting.
'They were cutting people out from the top of the bus, they cut the front of the bus off.
'I saw six or seven people taken away by ambulances. There was a lady who wasn't moving - I heard paramedics say she had hurt her spine. She looked smashed up a bit.
'The driver looked dead because he was just lying there not moving. They took the lorry driver away, but I don't think he was injured.
'I didn't see any children, but there must have been because it was an early bus and they would have been going to school.
'It was a railway lorry coming out of the rail depot. I think it hit the bus. There used to be a lot of accidents up here, but it is not too bad now.'
Barry Douglas, a chef, said: 'I heard a noise, it was a big bang and then I saw people running around making phone calls.
'As I came out people looked shocked and were saying 'I can't believe it'. I saw people trying to get off the bus, but others just froze.
A local 45-year-old mother-of-two, who declined to give her name, said: 'I heard the ambulances going by and went down the road to see what had happened.
'I saw a lady on a stretcher being put into an ambulance and I was crying because I don't like to see things like that. I've never seen anything like this before.' The bus was taken away a few hours after the crash. Some of its upper windows were smashed and it seemed to be gouged on the side.
The lorry was still there at that time and some streets remained cordoned off.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'The air ambulance and London Ambulance Service attended.
'Four passengers and the bus driver were taken to hospital by land ambulance suffering serious injuries. A further 13 people have been taken to hospital with minor injuries.
'Officers from the Collision Investigation Unit at Hampton are investigating.
'The male driver of the lorry has been arrested in connection with the incident and is currently in custody at a south London police station.
'The scene is likely to remain cordoned off for some time. We advise motorists to avoid the area and take alternative routes.'
The C3, run by the Abellio company, operates between Earl's Court and Clapham Junction.
Transport for London said there would be a full investigation into the incident.
Relatives of a victim of a fire embrace after taking part in a corpse identification procedure at a local morgue in Perm
Rescuers walk near bodies on stretchers gathered outside the club. Most people died from smoke inhalation
Rescuers, right, carry the body of a victim outside a nightclub in Perm, Russia, early Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. An explosion and fire apparently caused by pyrotechnics tore through the nightclub early Saturday, killing more than 100 people, according to emergency officials quoted by state television.
n this image made from RTR Russian Channel, rescuers carry the body of a victim outside a nightclub in Perm, Russia, early Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. An explosion and fire apparently caused by pyrotechnics tore through a nightclub in the Russian city of Perm early Saturday, according to news reports.
Emergency doctors carry a victim of a night club fire to a plane at an airport in Perm. Many of the injured were sent for treatment to Moscow's top emergency hospitals
Rescuers stand by the bodies of the fire victims
Anxious relatives read lists with names of injured in a nightclub fire at a hospital in Perm
A heavily wounded victim of the fire in the night club Lame Horse in Perm is brought to the Sklifasovsky hospital in Moscow
Medical workers help the victims of a fire in Perm on board a flying hospital on the way to Moscow. President Dmitry Medvedev has demanded tough punishment for the owners of a Russian nightclub
Police stood guard outside the club where flowers were left in tribute to the victims this morning
Two injured men standing in front of the Lame Horse nightclub in the centre of Perm, a city 720 miles east of Moscow
Many of the victims were crushed to death in the scramble for the exit (left); The aftermath (right)
Rescuers carry a victim outside a nightclub in Perm, Russia, early Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. An explosion and fire apparently caused by pyrotechnics tore through the nightclub early Saturday, killing more than 100 people, according to emergency officials quoted by state television. Most died from smoke inhalation.
In this image made from RTR Russian Channel, rescuers carry the body of a victim outside a nightclub in Perm, Russia, early Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. An explosion and fire apparently caused by pyrotechnics tore through a nightclub in the Russian city of Perm early Saturday, according to news reports. Investigators and relatives of the victims gather outside the club. A top investigator said that there was no suspicion of a terrorist attack
Russian police officers guard outside a nightclub in Perm, Russia, early Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. An explosion apparently caused by pyrotechnics tore through the nightclub early Saturday, killing more than 100 people, according to emergency officials quoted by state television.
Russia's top investigative body says the number of people who died in a nightclub fire in the Urals city of Perm has risen to 109.
The Investigative Committee says 98 died on the spot and 11 others later died in hospitals.
The victims crushed each other to death and suffocated after the fire tore through the popular Lame Horse nightclub in Perm late Friday, filling the crowded barracks-like building with thick black smoke.
The Investigative Committee said Saturday that some 130 people were injured and many remain in critical condition.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PERM, Russia (AP) — Panicked clubgoers crushed each other to death in a popular Russian nightspot as they tried to flee a fast-moving fire that one eyewitness told The Associated Press was started by pyrotechnic fountains set up on the stage.
Officials said 103 people died when the fire tore through the popular Lame Horse nightclub in the city of Perm late Friday, filling the crowded barracks-like building with thick black smoke. Authorities said they arrested the registered owner of the club and the manager.
Officials said the club managers ignored repeated demands from authorities to change the club's interior to comply with fire safety standards. "They have neither brains, nor conscience," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, urging a tough punishment for the culprits.
Officials said most of the dead suffocated or were crushed at the exit.
"The fire spread very quickly," said Marina Zabbarova, chief investigator for the local prosecutor's office. "Panic arose which led to a mass death of people."
News footage shot later outside the Lame Horse showed charred bodies lying in rows on the ground amid a light snowfall. Rescue workers carried bodies on stretchers into waiting vans.
Svetlana Kuvshinova, who was in the nightclub when the blaze broke out, told the AP it started after three fireworks fountains spewed sparks, igniting the plastic ceiling.
"The fire took seconds to spread," she said. "It was like a dry haystack. There was only one way out. They nearly stampeded me."
Another clubgoer said panic spread quickly through the crowd.
"There was only one exit, and people starting breaking down the doors to get out," said a woman who identified herself only as Olga, smeared with soot and wearing a filthy fur coat. "They were breaking the door and panic set in. Everything was in smoke. I couldn't see anything."
A video recorded by one of the clubgoers and run by Russian television stations showed flames engulfing the ceiling decorated with willow twigs as a host shouted in a casual tone: "Ladies and Gentlemen, guests of the club, we are on fire. Please leave the hall!"
People reluctantly and slowly began heading toward the exit, some of them turning back to look at the burning ceiling, but then rushed away in panic as flames quickly spread around seconds later.
Authorities set about identifying bodies Saturday morning, as ambulances delivered some of the more than 130 injured to planes waiting at the airport, where they were being evacuated to Moscow hospitals.
Medical authortities said nearly 90 of the injured were in critical condition.
Firefighters were on the scene in downtown Perm one minute after the alarm was called in, the Emergency Situations Ministry said, and they took less than an hour to put the fire out.
Zabbarova, the top investigator, said that there was no suspicion of a terrorist attack.
Russia has been on edge since last week's bombing of the high-speed Nevsky Express passenger train midway between Moscow and St. Petersburg, which killed 27 in the first deadly terrorist attack outside Russia's restive Caucasus republics since 2004. Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for the blast.
Perm, a city of around 1 million people, is about 700 miles (1,200 kilometers) east of Moscow in the Ural Mountains.
Enforcement of fire safety standards is notoriously lax in Russia and there have been several catastrophic blazes at drug-treatment facilities, nursing homes, apartment buildings and night clubs in recent years.
Medvedev, who summoned top officials to report on the fire and rescue efforts, urged changes in the law to toughen punishment for violation of fire safety standards.
Russia records nearly 18,000 fire deaths a year, several times the per-capita rate in the United States and other Western countries. Nightclub fires have killed thousands of people worldwide.
Ten people died when an entertainer's clothing was ignited during a so-called "fire show" at a Moscow club in March 2007.
In February 2008, a fire in the Golden Rock nightclub in the Siberian city of Omsk killed four people. Officials said the blast might have been caused by natural gas.
A nightclub fire in the U.S. state of Rhode Island in 2003 killed 100 people after pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling.
Firefighters monitor a fire in the suburb of Glendale on the outskirts of Los Angeles city, California, 01 Sep 2009 Firefighters watches over the fire.
Left over after the bush fires swepts across the California hills.
Federal authorities failed to follow through on plans earlier this year to burn away highly flammable brush in a forest on the edge of Los Angeles to avoid the very kind of wildfire now raging there, The Associated Press has learned.
Months before the huge blaze erupted, the U.S. Forest Service obtained permits to burn away the undergrowth and brush on more than 1,700 acres of the Angeles National Forest. But just 193 acres had been cleared by the time the fire broke out, Forest Service resource officer Steve Bear said.
The agency defended its efforts, saying weather, wind and environmental rules tightly limit how often these "prescribed burns" can be conducted.
"This brush was ready to explode," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose district overlaps the forest. "The environmentalists have gone to the extreme to prevent controlled burns, and as a result we have this catastrophe today."
Prescribed burns are intended to protect homes and lives by eliminating fuel that can cause explosive wildfires. The wildfire that has blackened 140,000 acres — or nearly 219 square miles — in the forest over the past week has been fed by the kind of tinder-dry vegetation that prescribed burns are designed to safely devour.
Government firefighters set thousands of blazes each year to reduce the wildfire risk in overgrown forests and grasslands around the nation. Prescribed burns can also be used to improve overall forest health and increase forage for wildlife.
Obtaining the necessary permits is a complicated process, and such efforts often draw protests from environmentalists.
"Our air quality, for a variety of factors, doesn't need to be further reduced by these controlled burns," she said.
Setting pre-emptive fires can be especially risky near heavily populated urban areas like Los Angeles because of the danger of flames burning out of control. Last month, a 90-acre prescribed burn near Foresta, on the edge of Yosemite National Park, jumped fire lines and consumed more than 7 square miles in the park.
Meanwhile , The blaze moved toward suburban homes and Mount Wilson, home of the space observatory and dozens of mobile phone, radio and television transmission towers about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Smoke was visible throughout the city. Crews returned to Mount Wilson today to defend it, the Forest Service said. May cause disruptions to thousands of residents.
A firefighter watches a wildfire burn in La Canada Flintridge, California, 31 Aug 2009
US Forest Service air tanker drops fire retardant next to a line of fire in the hills above Altadena, California, 29 Aug 2009
California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, 31 Aug 2009 On Monday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in four California counties - including Los Angeles County. "Fires are burning from the north - the northern border of California - all the way south, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Sierra Nevada [mountain range]," said Arnold Schwarzenegger. "We have fires everywhere. We have eight large fires around the state of California right now. But the firefighters have fanned out across California and they're doing an amazing job."
A burned traffic sign sits on the Angeles Crest Highway during the Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 31, 2009.
Brent Prince shoots a photo of a Tanker dropping retardant as fire fighters and aircraft battle a fire in New Harmony, Utah Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009.
An air tankers drops retardant on the fire as fire fighters and aircraft battle a fire in New Harmony, Utah Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009.
Fireman retreating from the Forest fire getting closer to North of Los Angeles.
Summary of Fire in USA Now.
ARIZONA:
_ Fire crews were working Monday to corral a blaze that has forced the evacuation of about 500 homes in two subdivisions nestled in the forest north of Payson, which is about 90 miles northeast of Phoenix. The fire that started Sunday afternoon has charred more than 500 acres in the Tonto National Forest. Fire officials don't yet know what caused the blaze, but said they don't believe it was sparked by lightning. Between 400 and 500 firefighters were mopping up hot spots on the fire. No injuries had been reported. The residents from Beaver Valley subdivision were allowed back home in the evening, but those from Whispering Pines were told they would have to wait a while longer.
CALIFORNIA: A deadly wildfire that has blackened a wide swath of tinder-dry forest around Los Angeles surged toward thousands of suburban homes and a vital mountaintop broadcasting complex. The flames scorched 164 square miles of brush and threatened more than 12,000 homes, but the lack of wind kept them from driving explosively into the hearts of the dense suburbs northeast of Los Angeles. Fire crews set backfires and sprayed fire retardant at Mount Wilson, home to at least 20 television transmission towers, radio and cell phone antennas, and the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory.
_ Officials hope a backfire will slow a blaze that has consumed more than 7 square miles in Yosemite National Park. State fire officials say a wildfire near the communities of Foresta and El Portal is 55 percent contained. Despite aerial bombardment and 968 firefighters on the ground, officials estimate the blaze won't be fully contained before Sept. 10. About 50 homes in El Portal and Foresta are still under evacuation orders. The fire began Wednesday when a 90-acre prescribed burn near Foresta jumped fire lines and whipped out of control.
_ Another 2,000 homes were threatened in San Bernardino County, and a mandatory evacuation was under way in Oak Glen, an unincorporated scenic community of apple orchards near Yucaipa and about 90 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. A 1.6-square-mile wildfire that began Sunday afternoon tripled in size overnight and was burning out of control in oak and conifer woodlands. Flames burning like huge candles erupted between rocky slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains and the farmhouses below.
_ Another fire erupted Monday on the edge of Yucaipa, threatening six homes and burning about five miles from the larger fire. About 15 acres were burned. Residents of 10 homes have been evacuated as a precaution.
_ A 3.8-square-mile blaze that began Thursday near the San Bernardino County town of Hemet was 95 percent contained and was expected to be fully surrounded Monday evening.
_ Northeast of Sacramento, a fire that began Sunday afternoon destroyed 60 structures, many of them homes in the town of Auburn, with an entire cul-de-sac wiped out. The fire had blackened 275 acres amid high winds and was 50 percent contained. The governor declared a state of emergency in the Sierra foothills area.
COLORADO
_ Crews fighting a nearly 2-square-mile wildfire in western Colorado are also putting out 17 smaller fires sparked by lightning. A Sunday night storm sparked the new blazes while crews were keeping the large fire away from three cabins and an outbuilding about 10 miles north of Nucla in southwest Colorado, according to fire information officer Lee Ann Loupe. The larger fire was reported Saturday and was also believed to be caused by lightning. Firefighters had no estimate Monday on how much of the fire was contained.
HAWAII
_ About 25 residents of Molokai had to evacuate when flames from an 11-square-mile wildfire headed toward their homes. But they were cleared to return several hours later when the wind shifted to the west, away from the residential area. A firefighter who suffered smoke inhalation on Saturday was hospitalized in stable condition. The cause of the fire was being investigated. Four public schools were closed in Molokai because of the brush fire.
OREGON
_ Firefighters on Monday were mopping up the nearly 2-square-mile Microwave fire that threatened Mosier over the weekend. Three homes and a barn were lost to the blaze, which has cost an estimated $1.7 million to fight and was reportedly 75 percent contained.
UTAH
_ Residents of New Harmony in southern Utah began returning to their homes Monday after authorities lifted an evacuation advisory driven by a wildfire flare-up. But fire officials warned that the blaze could become active again with expected hot and windy conditions. The lightning-caused Mill Flat fire had been burning in the remote Pine Valley wilderness area for more than a month before it flared up over the weekend, forcing hundreds from their homes and prompting new criticism that fire officials didn't attempt to extinguish it earlier. The blaze has blackened more than 16 square miles. At one point, fire officials said the blaze threatened 550 homes and 58 commercial buildings. Three homes and eight outbuildings were destroyed.
WASHINGTON
_ Firefighters expect the blaze that destroyed a large hay warehouse in Moses Lake to smolder for days. There were 70,000 tons of hay in the Courtland Manufacturing building, where the roof collapsed during Sunday's fire, according to The Grant County Department of Emergency Management. The 250,000-square-foot building processed hay into cubed livestock feed for export to Korea, Japan and Taiwan. There were no injuries, and no word yet on what started the blaze.
Fire officials expanded evacuation orders in the Acton, La Canada Flintridge and Altadena areas and closed more of the Angeles National Forest as the Station Fire grew to more than 42,000 acres.
Wildfire rages , going towards Mount Wilson , about 150 firefighters and 15 fire engines are struggling to protect the historic Mount Wilson Observatory, founded in 1904
A helicopter drops water on hot spots as it flies through dense smoke near Acton, Calif.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and residents help evacuate horses as fires burn the hills above Acton, Calif.
A firefighter clears brush from a propane tank in Acton as a fire races through the Angeles National Forest, where 18 structures were confirmed destroyed.
A giant fire in the Angeles National Forest continued its slow-motion rampage through the mountains yesterday, claiming the lives of two firefighters as it bore down on the semi-rural community of Acton and threatening to overrun Mount Wilson.The two firefighters were killed when they drove off the side of a treacherous road in the Mount Gleason area, south of Acton, around 2:30 p.m., said Los Angeles County Deputy Chief Mike Bryant. He did not release their identities or other details.
Two firefighters died in a wildfire Sunday in the San Gabriel Mountains that threatened about 12,000 homes and the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory.
Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bryant said the two firefighters died in the Angeles National Forest when their vehicle went off the road and over a hillside amid intense flames. He did not release their identities.
"This is a very difficult time," he said.
We ask for your understanding, for your patience as we move through this difficult time, and please, prayers for the families of our two brothers that we lost," county Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bryant said through tears at a Sunday press conference.
Fire Capt. Tedmund Hall, 47, of San Bernardino County, and firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones, 35, of Palmdale, were killed in the crash, the department said. Authorities did not give a cause for the crash.
Hall was a 26-year veteran, and Quinones had been a county firefighter for eight years.
"Our hearts are heavy as we are tragically reminded of the sacrifices our firefighters and their families make daily to keep us safe," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement
The blaze, which has burned 42,500 acres in four days, was only 5% contained and its southern edge was just 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles, the U.S. Forest Service said.
The fire had churned through more than 42,500 acres of chaparral and forest, from the edge of metropolitan Los Angeles up to pine-clad ridges and down toward the Mojave desert. More than 12,500 homes were under threat and 6,600 under mandatory evacuation. Eighteen residences were destroyed, fire officials said, mostly in the Big Tujunga Canyon area.
The fire was 5 percent contained, they said, and at least temporarily eased off the foothill communities from La Canada-Flintridge to Altadena on its southern flank.
On Sunday, it was threatening the city of Acton in the Apple Valley, a high-desert area at the northern perimeter of the Angeles National Forest. The fire command center said at least three homes burned and it expected more destruction.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the fire Sunday and urged residents to move quickly when ordered out by firefighters.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reported two people were severely burned and evacuated by county helicopter after resisting orders to leave. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the pair "totally underestimated the fire."
"They ran and jumped into a hot tub thinking the water would provide some kind of relief," he said.
The historic Mount Wilson Observatory, founded in 1904, was in danger. Director Hal McAlister reported on the observatory's website that more than 150 firefighters and 15 firetrucks were fighting to protect the facility.
A dozen or more of the residents took refuge at the Eagles Club Lodge in Azusa — which provided food, showers and tents — after they said their menagerie of pet dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and hamsters were turned away from a Red Cross shelter.
"The Eagles are saving us, man," said Jack Wagstaff, an engineer.
