Changing winds, hot temperatures could make San Gabriel Complex fire fight more difficult

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Staff Writer

Strong winds and hot temperatures are expected to hit the San Gabriel Valley over the next two days, bringing with them big conces for firefighters still battling two fires in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Authorities are conceed about a change in direction of winds that on Thursday were blowing from the southwest. They expect winds to start blowing from the northwest by Friday, which could force firefighters to change their plan of attack.

“I think it’s the biggest change in wind direction that firefighters are seeing,” said Matthew Mehle, a National Weather Service meteorologist based at the fire command post at Santa Fe Recreation Area in Irwindale. “The biggest conce is, we are shifting to another weather patte tonight. Offshore flows.”

By the weekend, temperatures could reach between 90 to 100 degrees. Fire officials expect wind gusts of about 20 miles per hour for the next two nights, according to Mehle.

The two fires, together called the San Gabriel Complex fire, are currently 15 percent contained with 5,235 acres bued.

The Fish fire, which broke out in Duarte and is the bigger blaze, has charred 4,035 acres. The Reservoir fire, which was started when a pickup truck fell over Highway 39 in the Angeles National Forest and burst into flames, held steady for the second consecutive day at 1,200 acres. No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported on Thursday.

• PHOTOS: San Gabriel Complex fires

“It’s kind of holding, not moving that much,” said Jay Nichols, spokesman for the Southe Califoia Interagency Incident Management Team 3. But he pointed out the area is expected to see windy weather.

He said there were some active fires Wednesday night at Spinks Canyon, above Fish Canyon and above Stone Cabin Flat.

Firefighters continued battling the two fires on Thursday. Nichols said they also have nine bulldozers along the Rincon Red Box Truck trail which he estimated was a mile above the fires. He called it a contingency line.

“It gives us another level of safety,” he added.

Some firefighters were doing mop up along residences north of Brookridge Road in Duarte, according to Nichols.

“We’re also mopping up and patrolling Highway 39. We’re trying to prevent (the Reservoir fire) from going to the east,” he said.

Hundreds of Duarte residents were allowed back into their neighborhoods on Wednesday. The Sheriff’s Department on Thursday gave the green-light for more Duarte evacuees to retu home.

Those allowed to retu at noon were residents who live from Vineyard Avenue to Willowglen Drive, from Las Lomas Road to Willowglen Drive and from Woodbluff Street to Starpine Drive. They needed to show ID and couldn’t bring back horses, RVs or trailers.

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Previous evacuation orders remain in place for Duarte residents who live north of Willowgreen Drive and those who live on Mount Olive Drive north of Woodlyn Lane, Spinks Canyon Road, Rim Road, Golden Meadow Drive, and High Mesa Drive.

In Azusa, Rainbow Ranch and Mountain Cove were still under evacuation orders. But U.S Forest Service officials said Thursday that residents who needed to retrieve medicine and other essential items could be escorted to their homes.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Boese said that more than 1,300 homes have been evacuated since the fires started Monday. He said 950 of those residences are in Duarte.

Several residents in Bradbury chose to evacuate Tuesday. Deputies didn’t know how many since it was a voluntary evacuation.

Dan Felix, a fire behavior analyst for the Southe Califoia Interagency Incident Management Team 3, was also working at the command post.

“Actually for this time of year, fairly typical fire behavior. The day that it started, we call it an alignment. It was really hot. It was fairly dry,” Felix said.

The fires grew very quickly, he said.

“With suppression efforts and change in the weather, it’s slowed down giving us a bit of a chance,” Felix said. “But the terrain up there is so inaccessible.”

Felix said that the area where the Fish Fire is buing has no significant fire history. He added that there hasn’t been a fire there for at least 30 years.

“The older the brush, the more difficult to control,” Felix said.

As of Thursday, 949 firefighter and support staff were working on the fires. Resources assigned included 55 fire engines, 23 handcrews, 13 helicopters, nine bulldozers and five water tenders.

• MAP: This is where the San Gabriel Complex fires are buing