San Gabriel Complex Fire: Containment at 10 percent, Burned Acreage Revised to 4,900

Duarte, CA — The two fires burning in the Angeles National Forest, now dubbed the San Gabriel Complex Fire, are now at 10 percent contained and the burned acreage was reduced to 4,900 acres, fire officials said.

"Now that the smoke died down we can go in and get an accurate assessment," Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mike McCormick said.

There are still more than 1,000 firefighters on the line fighting the fire.

The city of Duarte on Tuesday declared a local emergency in response to the fires and late Monday night, the Federal Emergency Management Agency granted the state's request for emergency assistance in the Fish Fire.

"The Regional Administrator of FEMA Region IX has determined the Fish Fire threatened such destruction as would constitute a major disaster," the agency said in a statement to Patch.

The Fish Fire was threatening 525 homes, three sets of 220 kilovolts power transmission lines and a 2.5 million water storage/distribution tank, the agency said.

Officials at the California Independent System Operator are also monitoring the situation, an agency spokeswoman Anne Gonzales told Patch on Monday. Some Southern California Edison transmission lines were down and a few Los Angeles Department of Water and Power lines are being threatened, but there was no threat to grid reliability at this time, she said.

FEMA will now provide funding for up to 75 percent of eligible firefighting costs, the agency said.

More than 12,000 people have been evacuated because of the fires and more residents are being asked to prepare for possible evacuations, authorities said Tuesday morning.

Residents in Monrovia and the Bradbury communities were warned to have an evacuation plan ready to go if an evacuation order comes, Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp said. Despite warnings and evacuation orders from officials, some residents created their own trigger for when to evacuate, and that's creating safety hazards for emergency personnel, he said.

"The problem with that is everybody is going at the same time so all the roads are clogged, and we have a very unsafe evacuation," Tripp said. "So when we declared an evacuation area, please get ready and go, and go early. Don't wait until the front is right in your yard."

The two fires, burning above Duarte and Azusa, are about two miles from each other and have charred a combined 5,4000 acres and there are still no containment Tuesday morning.

The big threat Tuesday is the Fish Fire. Overnight, the wind shifted direction, and the fire came down close to homes, Tripp said.

"We were able to use our night water-dropping helicopters to slow that advance, but that still is a very uncontrolled flank of the fire," he said.

The reason the fires are still uncontrolled is that there are a lot of old fuel beds in the forest from the four-year-long drought, Angeles National Forest Fire Chief Robert Garcia said.

People entering the National Forest for recreational activities were urged to be diligent and be on the lookout for fire rescue personnel, Garcia said.

"If you see fire activities you should call 911 to notify us for a rapid respond," he said.

The initial fire, dubbed the Reservoir Fire, started Monday when a pickup truck crashed off Highway 39 near Morris Dam and started a brush fire. The driver was killed in the crash and ensuing fire. The fire quickly grew to more than 1,500 acres in a matter of hours. It is now holding steady at more than 2,400 acres.

The fire was burning uphill in extremely steep terrain with heavy vegetation, Garcia said.

About 90 minutes later, another fire, dubbed the Fish Fire, started above Duarte, near homes. That fire quickly grew to more than 3,000 acres and threatened homes overnight.

More than 770 homes have been evacuated by the fires, which authorities are now calling the San Gabriel Complex Fire.

Evacuation orders were issued in Azusa for the Mountain Cove, El Encanto and Rainbow Ranch areas, with an evacuation center established at Memorial Park, 320 N. Orange Ave. Voluntary evacuations were in effect for the Mirador and Crystal Canyon areas.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for Duarte Mesa residents living above Markwood Street between Westvale Road and Tocino Drive, and above Conata between Tocino Drive and Mountain Crest Road.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued earlier for residents on Brookridge Road, with voluntary evacuations in effect for residents north of Fish Canyon Road from Greenbank Avenue to Encanto Parkway.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies early Tuesday announced additional road closures linked to the fires.

They are located at:

• Mount Olive Drive at Royal Oaks Drive
• Vineyard Avenue at Markwood Street
• Woodbluff Street from Sunnydale Drive
• Greenbank Avenue from Deerlane Drive
• Conata Street at Bettyhill Avenue
• Mel Canyon Road at Opal Canyon Road
• Mountain Crest Road at Fish Canyon Road
• Encanto parkway at Markwood Street
• Mount Olive Drive at Woodlyn Lane; and
• Mount Olive Drive at Elda Street.

The Red Cross established an evacuation center at the Duarte Community Center, located at 1600 Huntington Dr.

One firefighter and one sheriff's deputy was treated for heat exhaustion Monday.

— Photos courtesy of Cal Fire