Nervous residents watch Calif. wildfires

updated 6:02 p.m. ET Aug. 28, 2009

LOS ANGELES - Firefighters beat back flames licking at ocean-view estates Friday, while another wildfire raged through a dry forest above Los Angeles' foothill suburbs. Residents nervously watched aircraft drop loads of water and retardant on nearby blazing slopes.

The dramatic success of an overnight air and ground battle against a swift-moving blaze on the Palos Verdes Peninsula was tempered by the threat from an out-of-control fire on the opposite side of Los Angeles in the steep San Gabriel Mountains above the city of La Canada Flintridge.

The 2.3-square-mile fire in Angeles National Forest was among the most dangerous in a siege of wildfires charring thousands of acres of brush from Southern California north to the central coast region and east to the Sierra Nevada. Triple-digit heat and very low humidity made many areas ripe for burning.

"We're boxed up and ready to go," said La Canada Flintridge resident Steve Buntich, watching helicopters line up to siphon water from a golf course reservoir. He said his wife and children had evacuated to a friend's house for several hours, but had since returned home.

Ash fell from the sky and huge billows of smoke rose from the mountains as Elias Yidonoy, 62, and his wife prepared to leave their La Canada Flintridge home. Their minivan was loaded with suitcases filled with clothing, documents and photographs.

Some chased from homes
"It's wait and see," said Yidonoy, who with his wife had also left their home for several hours overnight and then returned.

The foothill residents were among more than a thousand Californians chased from their homes by the threat of wildfires.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula fire roared to life on the south Los Angeles County coast Thursday night and spread rapidly up canyons in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes. As many as 1,500 people fled as hundreds of firefighters rushed to protect homes in the fire's path in adjacent Rolling Hills Estates.

"The fire was stopped right at the backyards of those homes," county fire Chief Deputy John Tripp told a morning news conference.

Calm, windless conditions allowed water-dropping helicopters with spotlights to work much of the night. Six homes received minor exterior damage, and the only structures destroyed were an outbuilding and gazebo. No injuries were reported.

After daybreak, no flames were showing and all evacuations were lifted, but Tripp warned that fire could still surge out of the uncontained area.

"We are not out of the woods yet," he said.

Firefighters continued to work the ashen landscape, and a helicopter dropped loads of water sucked from the Pacific Ocean.

The fire above La Canada Flintridge was moving eastward and residents of adjacent Altadena were likely to see flames, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea. A major goal was to keep the fire from spreading up Mount Wilson, where many of the region's broadcast and communications antennas and the historic Mount Wilson Observatory are located, Florea said.

"We've had some success but unfortunately not enough to say we have any containment," Florea said.

MORE FROM LIFE

Life Section Front

In recession, pets go homeless in droves CPSC chief: Agency moved too slowly on crib safety Deer hunters help feed the hungry Cannabis Cafe creates buzz in Oregon Nuke plant radiation caused by pipe-cutting Woman loses benefits over Facebook pics 1 found dead, several rescued from Ind. motel fire Iraqi refugees move to Mich. despite economy Michael Jackson’s doctor returns to work Doubts about earrings tied to Mrs. Lincoln Life Section Front   Add Life headlines to your news reader: