The Associated Press
 AP Photo/Dan Steinberg Firefighters extinguish a burning storage yard that ignited from the wind-driven brush fire Monday. |
LOS ANGELES — Two huge wildfires driven by strong Santa Ana winds burned into neighborhoods near Los Angeles on Monday, forcing frantic evacuations on smoke- and traffic-choked highways, destroying homes and causing at least two deaths.
More than 1,000 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft battled the 5,300-acre Marek Fire at the northeast end of the San Fernando Valley, and the 3,000-acre Sesnon Fire in the Porter Ranch area at the west end. Winds blew up to 45 mph with gusts reaching 70 mph.
Authorities confirmed more than three-dozen mobile homes burned at the Marek Fire and TV news helicopter crews counted about 10 homes destroyed by the Sesnon Fire. Both fires also consumed commercial sites.
Firefighters were struggling with the resurgent, day-old Marek Fire when the new blaze erupted at midmorning a few miles to the west.
“It is a blowtorch we can’t get in front of,” said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Frank Garrido.
Fire officials alerted communities as far south as Malibu, 20 miles away, as an ominous dark plume streamed over rows of homes. Fire officials could not immediately estimate how many homes were in the path of the Sesnon Fire.
Residents were not allowed to drive into one of Porter Ranch’s gated communities because officials wanted to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. Instead they parked their cars, ran to their homes and carried out whatever they could carry in pillow cases, in their arms, sacks and suitcases. Some ran out clutching paintings.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman warned people not to stay home after evacuation orders had been given, as the flames were moving so rapidly.
“You may not be able to even outrun this fire,” Freeman said.
Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Frank Garrido said one person was killed in a fiery head-on collision around midday when police closed the 118 Freeway because of flames from the Porter Ranch fire. TV news helicopters showed vehicles turning around and driving against traffic to use an on-ramp as an exit.
Earlier, a fatality was discovered at the Marek Fire, an area where neighborhoods abut rugged canyonlands below the mountainous Angeles National forest. The man appeared to have been a transient living in a makeshift shelter, officials said.
About 1,200 people evacuated due to the Marek Fire, which was just 5 percent contained.
“We could have had an army there and it would not have stopped it,” Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Mario Rueda said. “Wind is king here, it’s dictating everything we are doing.”
Mobile home park resident Glenn Bell said he and another park resident broke a padlock on an emergency exit gate to escape at daybreak. “If we hadn’t broke open that gate, there would be people dead up there,” he said.
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center moved five of its most fragile patients to other hospitals. Spokeswoman Carla Nino said the four newborns and the fifth patient were on ventilators and were the most difficult to transport. Some other patients were discharged but the hospital decided it was not necessary to evacuate about 180 others.
The dry and warm Santa Ana winds typically blow between October and February. As they whistle through Southern California canyons and valleys, they accelerate, drying out vegetation and hastening the spread of any fires that erupt.
“This is what we feared the most,” Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mark Savage said. “The winds that were expected _ they have arrived.”
Flames jumped the Foothill Freeway, which was closed in both directions for about a three-mile stretch in northern Los Angeles between the 118 Freeway and Interstate 5 amid the morning rush hour, officials said.
“That was quite a jump. That’s an eight-lane fire break,” said fire spokesman Inspector Paul Hartwell.
A motorist was killed on a freeway ramp after vehicles started turning around and exiting to avoid the fire, Garrido said.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District advised Monday that air quality may be unhealthful due to the fires and urged people to avoid outdoor activities.
The Red Cross said about 500 people registered at an evacuation center at San Fernando High School. Agency spokesman Nick Samaniego said some evacuees had seen news footage of their homes burning.
“You can imagine, it’s a devastating situation,” he said. “A lot of people on pins and needles waiting to hear news about their communities.”
Most schools in the area were closed Monday.
In northern California, a blaze charred more than half of San Francisco Bay’s largest island but spared scores of historical structures, including an immigration station that was the first stop for millions of immigrants, mostly from China, in the early 1900s. The Angel Island wildfire was about 75 percent contained.