LOS ANGELES – For more than a week, the usually blue sky above the Angeles National Forest was hidden behind a thick curtain of gray smoke. The generally visible mountains for miles were barely visible.
Fueled by faint three-digit heat and dry brushes from flames for more than 60 years, the Bobcat Fire continues to burn firefighters two weeks after the eruption in the Gabriel Mountains. Fire officials point to extreme terrain and wind change as a forest fire east of Los Angeles was created in two factors.
LA County Fire Chief Daryl Osby recently highlighted a third challenge: California’s history has seen the state’s firefighters’ resources strained by the fire season.
“Five of the top 20 fires burning in the state of California are now burning in Northern California, which has challenged us to get some of the resources here that we normally have,” Osby said Friday. “The fire behavior we do in this fire and in the state of California is unprecedented.”
The U.S. Forest Service said the cause of the Bobcat fire, which took more than 1,000 acres and accounted for 15 percent of it on Saturday, had not been determined. A spokesman for the Angels National Forest said about 1,600 troops had been assigned to fight the fire, a number that would normally exceed 2,000 for the fire.
Many officers remain vigilant as fire officers issue evacuation orders, pick them up and issue new ones for neighboring areas. Checking the air quality before going out or venturing out for a jog has become a daily occurrence. People are advised to keep an emergency kit near the front door or inside their car, in case they suddenly run away.
People living in nearby desert cities were ordered to evacuate on Saturday. Last week, residents on the southern border of Agni in the San Gabriel Valley were told to leave their homes.
“It’s been a stressful week,” Monorovia resident Anna Hoye told NBC News. “I don’t think I’ve got three or four hours of sleep every night.”
Monrovia resident Michael Kanche said he has experienced many California fire seasons but “this has been the most terrifying.”
The fire was contained at 0 percent for several days but then escalated to a percent growth after firefighters rushed to rescue the historic Mount Wilson Observatory. Founded in 1904, the observatory once hosted groundbreaking astronomers such as Edwin Hubble and is home to dozens of irreplaceable telescopes.
Containment rose to 100 percent last week, which will only increase to one percent later as the wind blows and strengthens. At one point, the fire came within 500 feet of the observatory, forcing personnel to evacuate and force the fire brigade to create an aggressive situation in the national forest where elevations range from 1,600 feet to more than 10,000 feet.
As of Thursday, control was up to 9 percent and nearly doubled to 15 percent on Friday.
But as the contention grew, so did the fire. There was about 70,000 acres of land on Friday morning but 24 hours later it had spread to more than 91,000 acres.
Officials estimate the damage to the structure has been minimized, but affected homeowners say they have been devastated.
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” Deb Burgess, president of the Sturtevent Camp Board, said in an email.
Burgess owns cabins at the historic Sturtevent Camp, a cluster of cabins dating back to 1893 that can only be reached on foot or by horseback. She is not allowed to visit the site and fears a bobcat fire could destroy her.
Locals are concerned that 80 cabins in neighboring Big Santa Anita Canyon have also been destroyed or damaged.
“These are really rare circumstances,” said Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Angeles National Forest. “It’s the most horrible thing in the world when you see a house burn down. We’re really trying to focus on that. ”
The firefighters are deploying every weapon in their arsenal, continuing the raging fire. There are bulldozing control lines along its perimeter to try to slow it down. Planes and helicopters are dumping water and firefighting elements whenever possible, although smoke conditions made it impossible to fly for several days last week.
On the ground, firefighters are clearing “lines”, jumping control lines, and using small, controlled fires can pull large, more ferocious forks out of the flames.
“This is a complete storm,” Mitchell said. “Every fire has individual challenges and you have to adapt to those challenges.”
