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Crews battle two fires near Los Angeles

Blazes continue east of downtown; third fire nearly hit Getty museum

Image: Burned area near LA freeway
Gus Ruelas / AP
A helicopter makes a water drop on a fire near the Getty museum on Thursday. The fire broke out along the 405 freeway in West Los Angeles.
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Oct. 23: The Getty Art museum came dangerously close to catching fire early Thursday in the wildfires that have been closing in on Los Angeles. Brian Williams reports.

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updated 10:55 a.m. ET Oct. 24, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Crews on Friday were dealing with a wildfire burning outside Los Angeles at the base of a soaring mountain, a day after snuffing out a blaze that erupted near the city's world-famous Getty museum.

The new wildfire at the base of 10,064-foot Mount Baldy, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, had burned 200 acres by Thursday night.

The fire was burning uphill and away from nearby homes, said Jesse Estrada, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

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On Wednesday, gusty Santa Ana winds drove a 250-acre wildfire in Fontana and the canyons of Rancho Cucamonga, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

The fire was 90 percent contained Thursday but no flames were visible and authorities expected to completely surround it by evening, state fire officials said.

Most of the Southern California region is under National Weather Service warnings of extreme fire danger until Saturday evening.

Luckily for firefighters and homeowners, Santa Ana winds have been diminishing.

Another wildfire burned 100 acres of brush and grass near the world-famous Getty art museum in West Los Angeles before it was doused early Thursday without causing any damage or injuries.

Nearby Interstate 405 was closed for about four hours but reopened at 6 a.m., as the morning rush was getting underway. Even so, traffic on freeways and surface streets throughout Los Angeles were clogged, jammed with motorists who had sought ways around the fire.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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