Wildfires erupted in and around the San Gabriel Mountains this weekend, first in Wrightwood and then in Duarte, as hot weather seized the Southland, according to fire officials.
According to Angeles National Forest authorities, the Wrightwood fire grew from 45 to 775 acres between 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday. Officials stated a mandatory evacuation order was in place for Desert Front Road and Wild Horse Canyon in Wrightwood, while the remainder of the town was under an evacuation alert.
The fire was just 5% contained. The route from Highway 138 to Highway 2 has been closed, and an evacuation center has been established at Phelan’s Serrano High School.
The fire in Duarte was discovered around 4:15 p.m. Sunday at Brookridge and Mel Canyon roads and had spread to 10 to 20 acres by 5 p.m., according to Los Angeles County Fire Department Supervisor Bernard Peters. At the time, no one had been wounded, and no properties were in danger.
The flames’ origins are being investigated.
“There is a mandatory evacuation order in place for residents living in the community of Wrightwood,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff shared on Twitter at 4:22 p.m. Sunday. “The evacuation order is for Highway 2 to Mesquite St. from Hwy138 to Sand Canyon.”
The San Bernardino County Fire Department shared this tweet:
The Fire Integrated Real-Time Intelligence System (FIRIS) shared this video of how the Sheep Incident is looking from above:
Fire conditions increased in Southern California on Sunday due to warm and dry weather. But winds were relatively light, according to Kristen Stewart, an Oxnard-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Monday is predicted to be much cooler, according to Stewart, but strong northern winds are expected to pick up in the night. However, the heat wave is expected to return Tuesday and climax midweek, with peaks in the nineties and hundreds in the San Fernando Valley on Wednesday and Thursday.