California wildfires leave LV up in smoke

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1999 | 11:35 a.m.

Smoke from a wildfire burning more than 50,000 acres of spiny Joshua trees and brush in Southern California drifted into the Las Vegas Valley on Monday, dimming visibility, leaving a distinct odor and affecting people with lung problems.

The smoke streamed into Southern Nevada in the afternoon as southwest winds blew the chances of thunderstorms eastward and out of the area.

Depending on the wind and the progress of the firefighting efforts, the smoke-generated haze over the valley could last a couple of more days, Clark County Health District's Air Pollution Control Assistant Director Michael Sword said.

The Willow fire in the San Bernardino National Forest had consumed almost 50,000 acres by late Monday between the resort town of Lake Arrowhead and the high desert town of Apple Valley, about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Erratic winds whipped flames north and east overnight, forcing the evacuation of neighborhoods along stretches of valleys where rugged hills drop into flat desert stretches dotted with brush and gangly Joshua trees, Nanci Wagner, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry, said.

Five people were arrested for allegedly looting abandoned homes, sheriff's spokeswoman Jennie Risley said.

Fifty miles to the west, in Angeles National Forest, 785 firefighters battled steep terrain and hot temperatures in a 2,500-acre wildfire that forced more than 4,000 campers and cabin owners out of San Gabriel Canyon. Three cabins in the North Fork Tract were damaged and others were threatened, forest officials said.

In Riverside County 70 miles east of Los Angeles, a blaze burned about 3,000 acres and forced the evacuation of two campgrounds and a trailer park, while another fire in the same forest burned 1,523 acre but wasn't threatening structures.

A 3,600-acre blaze in the Mojave Desert hills west of Palmdale was fully contained by Monday night, said Jim Crawford, spokesman with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Three sheds were destroyed and one house was damaged by flames shortly after the fire erupted Sunday.

In the Las Vegas Valley particles of dust raised by the wind mixed with the smoke from Southern California to create a haze that turned the skies brown and the sun into a red fire ball. "There's definitely particulate matter in the air," Jensen said.

People complained of more respiratory problems Monday, a Las Vegas physician said.

Dr. Bradley Walker of the UMC Quick Care Central at 1000 S. Valley View Blvd. said more patients sought help for breathing problems after the smoke began pouring into the valley.

"There are more respiratory complaints than normal for August," Walker said.

Meanwhile, more than 18 blazes scorched wildland in Idaho, Montana, Northern Nevada, Utah, Washington and Northern California.

Firefighters had gained the upper hand on a 45,000-acre blaze north of Reno and were dousing hot spots on Monday.

In Northern California, firefighters struggled with clusters of fires that burned 4,547 acres in the Shasta-Trinity National Forests. Another fire cluster in Shasta and Trinity counties burned over 17,000 acres.

A 34,441-acre fire in Modoc National Forest was 50 percent contained and in Butte County, firefighters expected full containment of several fires that burned 33,924 acres. Six additional fires were burning across 8,353 acres in the Plumas National Forest.

Thunderstorms were believed responsible for two wildfires on Utah rangeland west of Salt Lake City, including a 3,000-acre blaze up Peepstone Canyon. The Associated Press

contributed to this report.