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LOS ANGELES: Schools in the eastern suburbs of Los
Angeles canceled classes Monday as a raging brush fire swept through
local mountains and canyons, forcing the evacuation of at least 400
homes.
All Sierra Madre schools, both
public and private, will be closed Monday, authorities announced,
predicting that if the weather continued to cooperate, the blaze
could be fully contained only in four to seven days.
Meanwhile, helicopters and planes
were dumping water and fire retardant on the blaze—the first major
fire of the dreaded summer fire season—which since Saturday has
consumed 350 acres (140 hectares) in foothills near California’s
Santa Anita Canyon about 15 miles (25 kilometers) from downtown Los
Angeles.
Officials said that battling the
northern section of the fire was more difficult because it was
burning up steep slopes through thick brush inaccessible to
bulldozers.
Elisa Weaver, a spokeswoman for
the Arcadia Fire Department, told Agence France Presse that 200
homes had been evacuated Saturday night and another 200 early
Sunday.
“This is a mandatory
evacuation. We do not want people to wait until the last minute and
then have to leave as fire trucks are moving up the roads,” Weaver
added.
There have been no reported
injuries, although firefighters remained concerned that the ferocity
of the blaze fueled by an ongoing southern California heat wave that
has seen temperatures rise to 98 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius)
that could threaten more residents living closer to Los Angeles.
“This is not a lazy fire. This
fire is burning with some energy,” Sierra Madre Fire Department
battalion chief Michael Bamberger told a news briefing.
“I was waiting for the
possibility of more evacuations, although it looks like we’re
making good progress tying off the southern end of the fire near the
city’s northern boundary, which is where more homes are
located,” Bamberger said, adding that no homes had been burned.
About 1,000 people have left
their homes, as roughly 400 firefighters battled the blaze, which
was just five percent under control.
--AFP
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