A WIND-blasted wildfire tore through Los Angeles' northern foothills yesterday, sending thousands of residents fleeing, forcing a hospital to evacuate and destroying an untold number of homes.
The fire broke out late on Friday night in the foothill community of Sylmar on the edge of the Angeles National Forest and quickly spread across 2,600 acres – more than four square miles – in a few hours as it was driven by Santa Ana winds that guste
d as high as 76 mph.
Officials said at least 10 homes were burned, but aerial footage from television helicopters showed numerous mobile homes in flames.
A fire crew abandoned one mobile home park that was burning out of control. Part of the area's network of highways was shut down.
Officials ordered huge evacuations in the Sylmar and Porter Ranch communities as the fire jumped two motorways, closing the highways and forcing evacuees to take other routes.
"Near-hurricane winds made it very difficult for firefighters," Los Angeles Fire deputy chief Mario Rueda said.
To the west, firefighters were still battling a separate wildfire that destroyed more than 110 homes in Santa Barbara.
The Los Angeles blaze threatened at least 1,000 buildings, fire spokeswoman Melissa Kelley said.
Flames struck the edge of the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center campus shortly after midnight, causing a power cut that forced officials to evacuate two dozen critical patients.
About 200 other patients stayed behind.
Several administrative buildings were damaged.
The hospital's power and backup generators failed, and emergency room staff had to keep critical patients alive with hand-powered ventilators. Twenty-eight people, including 10 neonatal babies, were rushed to another hospital by ambulance.
"It was totally dark," said hospital spokeswoman Carla Nino. "There was dense smoke."
Power was restored at the hospital after three hours.
Some people refused to leave, grabbing water hoses to defend their homes, but others fled even before mandatory evacuation orders were issued.
More than 600 firefighters struggled to protect homes threatened by flying embers. Because of the rough terrain in the forest, they were relying on water-dropping helicopters to tackle flames.
Authorities said some aircraft were grounded during the night by the savage wind, but they expected six aeroplanes and a dozen helicopters to attack the fire during the day.
The shifting wind pushed the fire uphill toward the San Gabriel Mountains and downhill towards homes, sometimes skipping across canyons.
The blaze also charred habitat for the endangered California condor and several hiking trails, US Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea said.
The full article contains 428 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
