Crews fight fire with fire to stop forest blaze

Anthony Breznican

Thursday, Sept. 2, 1999 | 9:51 a.m.

FAWNSKIN, Calif. - Firefighters gouged ravines between the woods and resort towns in the San Bernardino Mountains and set fires in a desperate effort to create buffer zones for homes threatened by the largest of the West's wildfires.

"We're going to try to beat it at its own game," Kathy Saindon, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department, said Wednesday as crews set controlled fires near Fawnskin, Big Bear Lake, and Green Valley Lake.

The Willow fire has scorched 60,100 acres from the Mojave Desert floor up into the mountains 90 miles east of Los Angeles since it started Saturday, and strong winds fanned it Wednesday over hillsides barely two miles from the tiny communities.

The blaze was one of a half-dozen major fires in California. Another six significant wildfires were burning in Montana, Utah and Idaho, where a 40,000-acre grass blaze was 40 percent contained several miles from the Snake River community of Glenns Ferry.

President Clinton, meanwhile, ordered that federal disaster aid be made available for California's Butte, Shasta, Tehama and Tuolumne counties, all struck by wildfires last month. Damage surveys were continuing and other areas could qualify for aid later on.

The Willow blaze prompted area legislators to ask California Gov. Gray Davis to declare an emergency in San Bernardino County, saying "there is no end in sight."

The blaze, started by an illegal campfire, was 30 percent surrounded and there was no estimate for full containment. Twelve desert homes in Apple Valley were destroyed during the initial stages of the fire.

In Fawnskin, where 380 people live year-round, resident Ron Shanahan, 44, stood outside the Gold Pan restaurant watching smoke rise dramatically over a ridge two miles away.

"I think it could take out half of this town," he said, gesturing to the small wooden shops and cabins lining the edge of Big Bear Lake.

"I don't know what will happen to us if that wind decides to come our way," Shanahan added. "We're not sure whether we should start packing yet. I mean, how can you even start to pack up 30 years of your life?"

Many said they have faith Wednesday's firefighting efforts would protect the town and planned to stay at their homes for as long as possible

"It's just silly to panic and run," Gold Pan owner Barbara Aker said to neighbors outside the restaurant. "But it's a good idea to have your valuables, your pictures, your money and your deed packed and ready to go.

"Although, what good is a deed if the fire comes?" she added.

On Wednesday, giant pine trees exploded in flames a few miles from Green Valley Lake, a resort hamlet at the 8,000-foot level not far from Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear.

Green Valley Lake fire Capt. Rick Mull, 43, said he has never seen a fire of such magnitude come near the town. Most of the residents are either scrambling to pack their belongings or are volunteers helping fight the blaze, he said.

"The worst part is that everybody is so tired," Mull said, rubbing bloodshot eyes. "But everyone in the town is coming together to help us and help each other."

The bed-and-breakfast, camping and boating resort has about 350 full-time residents and many were staying despite a voluntary evacuation alert.

Rather than running, talk among locals centered on the fire's impact on tourism over the Labor Day weekend. The final weekend of summer usually brings 500 people to Green Valley Lake.

"I don't know if the fire is going to get up here, but I'm getting calls from people who want to cancel their vacation," said Ted Fogel, who works at a cabin rental firm.

"We've had a couple people cancel and a lot more are thinking about it," said Kathy O'Loughlin, a clerk at Lake Arrowhead's historic Saddleback Inn. "But the fire isn't burning near here anymore. You can see it but you can't smell it and it's not a threat."

One visitor Tuesday night was so concerned that he slept in his clothes for a quick getaway if necessary, she said.

Down in Lucerne Valley, fire blackened Barbara Jo Jones' 35 acres of remote desert land at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains, but her home, goats and iguana were saved by firefighters on Tuesday.

"They are our heroes," she said Wednesday. "I don't think I've ever had a hero before. We gave them coffee; they gave us our property."

Southern California firefighters also battled flames in the San Gabriel Mountains, where a blaze on 7,000 acres of Angeles National Forest was 30 percent contained. And in Riverside County, the 3,300-acre Mixing fire was 100 percent surrounded by Wednesday, said Nanci Wagner, a California Department of Forestry spokeswoman. Firefighters planned to have the fire fully controlled by Saturday, she said.

Northern California firefighters struggled with clusters of fires that have burned over thousands of acres in the Shasta-Trinity area and Plumas National Forest.