By Jeremiah Marquez
The Associated Press

LOCKWOOD VALLEY, Calif. — Officials urged residents in rural mountain communities to evacuate as they battled one of California's largest and longest-lasting wildfires.

Thick smoke turned the sky gray and purplish Tuesday as flames rolled through pines and juniper trees on slopes of Los Padres National Forest, where more than 3,800 firefighters have battled the blaze since it started on Labor Day.

"The problem is we've had extremely dry fuels," fire spokesman Dan Bastion said Wednesday. "Brush and trees will be ignited by the heat of the fire, so there's a domino effect going on."

Fire trucks, bulldozers and water tankers guarded homes within sight of the massive fire Tuesday. No occupied homes had been lost to the fire, which burned some 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Overall, containment was just 42 percent.

Six unoccupied buildings were destroyed, including a modular home, a cabin, barns and camp trailers, said fire spokesman Dan Bastion.

Authorities recommended evacuation of several remote Ventura County communities arrayed along roads west of Interstate 5.

Wind-whipped flames jumped a road, said U.S. Forest Service fire spokesman Larry Comerford.

"It sounded like a jet engine," Forest Service firefighter Greg Valencia said of a towering wall of flame he saw blow past a home, leaving it unscathed.

Water- and retardant-dropping helicopters and aircraft attacked the flames from the sky. On the ground, crews staged equipment at the widely spaced homes for structure protection. At almost every house there was at least one engine and a few firefighters clearing brush, hosing down roofs and decks. A bulldozer plowed a firebreak around one home.

Dale King was helping firefighters clear brush around his home when flames roared across the edge of his 5-acre property.

"The house was vibrating. It sounded like a freight train in the yard," King, 57, said.

"It was scary. I've never seen a wall of fire 200 feet high moving right at you and there's nothing you can do," he said. "It makes you believe in the Lord, I'll tell you."

The new fire activity was a surprise setback for firefighters. The blaze had been moving relatively slowly with the dying of weekend Santa Ana winds that had the potential to greatly spread flames but did not.

The blaze has burned more than 144,880 acres — 226 square miles — of wilderness. It was ignited by someone burning debris.

Firefighting costs have topped $45.5 million.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency for Ventura County.

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