3,500 firefighters work to encircle Calif. blaze

Fire trucks, bulldozers and water tankers guarded homes within sight of a massive wildfire Tuesday as officials urged rural residents of Southern California mountain communities to evacuate.

Thick smoke turned the sky gray and purplish as flames rolled through pines and juniper trees on slopes of Los Padres National Forest, where more than 3,500 firefighters have battled the blaze since it started on Labor Day.

No homes had been lost to the fire, one of the largest and longest-burning wildfires in state history, burning some 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Overall, containment was just 43 percent.

Authorities recommended evacuation of Lockwood Valley, Pinon Pines, Pine Mountain Club and Lake of the Woods — remote Ventura County communities arrayed along roads west of Interstate 5.

Wind-whipped flames jumped a road during the day, said U.S. Forest Service fire spokesman Larry Comerford.

“It sounded like a jet engine,” Forest Service firefighter Greg Valencia said of a towering wall of flame he saw blow past a home, leaving it unscathed.

Water- and retardant-dropping helicopters and aircraft attacked the flames from the sky. On the ground, crews staged equipment at the widely spaced homes for structure protection. At almost every house there was at least one engine and a few firefighters clearing brush, hosing down roofs and decks. A bulldozer plowed a firebreak around one home.

Dale King was helping firefighters clear brush around his home when flames roared across the edge of his 5-acre property.

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“The house was vibrating. It sounded like a freight train in the yard,” King, 57, said.

“It was scary. I’ve never seen a wall of fire 200 feet high moving right at you and there’s nothing you can do,” he said. “It makes you believe in the Lord, I’ll tell you.”

The new fire activity was a surprise setback for firefighters. The blaze that had been moving relatively slowly with the dying of weekend Santa Ana winds that had the potential to greatly spread flames but did not.

The blaze, which has burned more than 143,100 acres — 223 square miles — of wilderness, was ignited by someone burning debris. Firefighting costs have topped $41 million.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency for Ventura County. The move clears the way for government assistance with costs related to the fire.