400 Acres Scorched in 4 Brush Fires in State

Fires, some deliberately set, destroyed almost 400 acres of brush in four areas of California Sunday.

No one was seriously injured, and no major structures were destroyed.

“It’s the result of good training, quick action, clear thinking . . . and an awful lot of luck,” said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Rita Plair.

The last fire was controlled at about 6 p.m. It had begun about 22 hours earlier in the San Dimas experimental forest and watershed area of Angeles National Forest, about 14 miles north of Glendora.

That fire consumed 54 acres of brushland in mountainous terrain before 150 firefighters of the U.S. Forest Service and Los Angeles County Fire Department contained it behind a series of firebreaks Sunday morning. Full control was announced 12 hours later.

Containment means fire breaks have been created around the fire. Control means that embers from the fire no longer have any chance of jumping that line. A fire is not said to be extinguished, however, until all embers are dead.

Exhaust Touches Off Blaze

A much larger fire evidently was touched off by hot exhaust from a vehicle that pulled off California 91 and drove through brush near Prado Dam in Riverside County, near the Orange County line, authorities said. It was fully under control Sunday morning after blackening 170 acres of brush land.

California Department of Forestry spokeswoman Christy Makley said about 200 members of hand and engine crews on the ground were aided by helicopters and air tankers, and cut fire breaks in the path of the flames that briefly threatened the Green River Golf Course.

Two other fires in Riverside County--both believed set in the Banning area by the same person--were also brought under control.

The first, which began about a mile south of Banning, consumed about 15 acres of brush on the east side of California 243. The second, which began on the Morongo Indian Reservation and forced temporary evacuation of a youth forest camp, was finally stopped after the loss of about 150 acres of grassland.

‘We Have an Arsonist’

“We have an arsonist running around out there,” Department of Forestry spokeswoman Makley said. “We’ve been having lots of problems.”

Meanwhile another fire, also believed set by an arsonist, consumed about 300 acres of timberland along the south fork of the Yuba River near Nevada City before being controlled by 500 firefighters from federal and state agencies aided by three aerial tankers.

No dwellings or major structures were damaged by any of the fires, but one firefighter was treated for exhaustion and two were stung by bees while cutting breaks in the path of the Nevada City blaze.