Fires engulf houses

Press, 26 November 1980, Page 8

Fires engulf houses

NZPA-Reuter San Bernardino, California Winds howling to nearly 160 km/h sent three fires roaring through 2900 tinderdry hectares of forest and brush yesterday, setting more than 100 houses aflame and forcing hundreds of foothill residents to flee. The most serious was a 680 ha fire that started about 120 km east of Los Angeles in the Uppei Waterman Canyon in the San .Bernardino National Forest north of the city. Fanned by the high, north-easterly Santa Ana winds, the blaze swept down the hills and stormed through a 10-square-block area in city limits. The Forest Service said the fire was believed to

have been caused by arson-j ists. “There are fires reported all over the city,” said a San Bernardino fire spokesman. More than 100 homes were burning. About skm to the east, a second .'ire burned several structures and more than 200 ha of brush in the City Creek area. The California Department' of Forestry said that fife was moving southeast and was threatening more homes.

The third and biggest fire was' in the Mount Baldy area of (the Los Angeles Naitional Forest, about 320 km ■west of Sari ? Bernardino.. At jleast one summer cabin and 2000 ha of timber wen; up in I flames. Officials feared that 'the village tot Mount Baldy Imay have been destroyed.;-*-...