Old Fire: Calabasas wildfire 80 percent contained, evacuations lifted

The Old fire in Calabasas, which bued 516 acres, threatened thousand of homes and prompted a mandatory evacuation order for 5,000 residents, was declared 80 percent contained Sunday afteoon by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

“We’re feeling better,” department Inspector Randall Wright said. “We are making progress.”

All mandatory evacuations and road closures were lifted by 6 p.m. Sunday, said Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp during an afteoon press conference.

•RELATED STORY: Old Fire in Calabasas bus more than 500u2009acres, threatens thousands of homes

The blaze erupted about 4:15 p.m. on Saturday in the 23700 block of Mulholland Highway when a pickup knocked down a power pole and the transformer exploded, igniting brush, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

The wildfire tore through rugged terrain, making the flames tough to battle, Wright said.

More than 400 firefighters from a variety of agencies fought the blaze.

Damage was kept to a minimum, even though the fire threatened about 3,700 homes.

•PHOTOS: Firefighters keep a close eye on the Old Fire Sunday

Flames destroyed one commercial building and fire retardant damaged one home. The department said earlier that two homes were damaged.

The evacuation order was lifted for Calabasas on Sunday moing, while the order for the Topanga area was still in effect, Wright said.

But it was a tense scene Saturday night as flames chewed close to homes.

Alec Feinstein and his family, who live at the coer of Mulholland Highway and Declaration Avenue, watched the blaze roar along the brushy area across the street from their home. Things got dicey between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, he said.

Water-dropping helicopters zoomed in over the neighborhood, which became engulfed in thick smoke.

“It was pretty heavy,” Feinstein said. “It was all over the place and a lot of soot. It was like ‘Apocalypse Now.’u2009”

His wife, Marissa, said their two young daughters went to stay with friends Saturday night, but she and her husband hunkered down at home.

•MAP: Location of the Old Fire buing off Mullholland Highway

“It was very scary but we felt very confident,” she said of their belief the flames would not get to their home. “I was worried about our safety and the community’s safety.”

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She also lauded the efforts of fire crews who rushed to the scene.

“They were amazing,” she said. “They worked throughout the night, and they saved lives and property.”

The only damage to their home was soot in the swimming pool.

The Red Cross set up an evacuation center at Agoura High School.

Shelter manager Ed Barlow said that about 19 people came to the school Saturday night but only 10 stayed.

Seven slept in their cars, and three were on cots in the school gym.

“I guess a lot of them thought that sleeping on a cot was not as appealing as staying with their brother-in-law,” Barlow said with a chuckle.

One popular destination, a least for horses, was the stable area on the west side of Pierce College.

Aaron Reyes, deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control, said that about 90 horses will be calling Pierce their home for the next several days. Seventy of them came from the evacuation Saturday of the Mill Creek Equestrian Center in Topanga Canyon.

•RELATED STORY: 90 horses evacuated to Pierce College due to Old Fire in Calabasas

Things got tense about 8:30 p.m., said Sadie Buchenau, one of the center’s trainers.

“Once the smoke started rising, the horses could smell it and tell something was going on,” she said. “And when the fire engines and helicopters started coming, all the horses got jazzed up and some were spiing in their stalls.”

Volunteers bought six trailers to the center to help get the horses to safety, she said, and several had to be sedated so they could be safely loaded onto the trailers.

The last group of horses arrived about 11:30 p.m. Saturday night and by Sunday moing the horses had settled into their temporary home.

“Everybody is much better now,” Buchenau said Sunday moing.

Reyes said that a crew of about 45 department staffers and volunteers will help care for the horses during their stay at Pierce.

Santa Barbara residents Ramsey McDaniel and her daughter Avery rushed to Pierce on Saturday night so Avery could be close to her horse Kaufman.

They spent the night in their car.

• PHOTOS: Firefighters work to contain the Old Fire in Calabasas Saturday

“It was cold, “ Avery said. “But it was OK. We got up at 5:15 to check on everybody’s horse. And we gave them water and food.”

She also took Kaufman for an early moing walk.

Catching a break

Temperatures gave firefighters a break Sunday: It was 86 degrees at 2 p.m. in Woodland Hills, down from 100 degrees 24 hours earlier. That gave firefighters a chance to extend containment lines around 80 percent of the fire by 5 p.m., up from 30 percent at sunrise. But they started the day conceed.

•PHOTOS: A look at how the Old Fire in Calabasas began and response to it

Tripp, on Sunday moing, said that there was still a “very large challenge” on the east and south sides of the fire that prohibited the more than 5,000u2009residents from retuing to the 3,700u2009homes that were evacuated.

“We do truly believe there truly still is risk,” he said, adding it still was very difficult to do a direct attack in rugged terrain.

He was worried that the fire could get moving again as the day heated up.

About a half-dozen neighborhoods in the path of the fire were evacuated, including mandatory evacuations at Calabasas Highlands, Eddingham and Adamsville and voluntary evacuations in adjacent areas.

By 2 a.m. Sunday, Calabasas residents were allowed to retu to their homes, albeit many without power.

City News Service contributed to this report.