LOS ANGELES — A growing wildfire sending large billows of smoke into the sky north of Los Angeles nearly tripled in size Saturday, injuring three residents, burning a small number of homes, knocking out power to many more and prompting evacuations in a number of mountain communities.
Mandatory evacuations were extended Saturday into neighborhoods in the canyons on the northwestern edge of Altadena, Glendale, La Crescenta and Big Tujunga Canyon, Forest Service spokesman Bruce Quintelier said. It was unclear how many residents were ordered to leave.
The flames crept lower down the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains despite winds blowing predominantly in the other direction, threatening more than 2,000 homes in the La Canada Flintridge area. At least 150 homes were under mandatory evacuation orders there.
A few homes and about 25 recreational cabins have burned but exact numbers were not immediately available, said Forest Service spokesman Gabriel Alvarez.
An evacuation center was set up at La Canada High School and Jackson Elementary School in Altadena.
Flames knocked out power to at least 164 residences Saturday afternoon in La Canada Flintridge, according to Southern California Edison. Repair crews were ordered to stay out of the area because of fire danger.
More than 31 square miles of dry forest was scorched by the fire, which continued to move out in all directions, the most active flanks to the north, deeper into the forest, and east, Quintelier said. The blaze was only 5 percent contained.
At least three residents of Big Tujunga Canyon were burned and airlifted to hospitals, Quintelier said. The details of their injuries were unknown.
Air crews waged a fierce late afternoon battle against the southeast corner of the fire, burning dangerously close to canyon homes. Spotter planes with tankers on their tails dove well below ridge lines to lay bright orange retardant then pulled up dramatically over neighborhoods, and giant sky-crane helicopters swooped in to unleash showers on the biggest flare-ups.
The amount of smoke was hampering air operations in some areas, officials said.
"It's difficult for water-dropping aircraft to get in there, but they're still trying," Forest Service spokesman Jessica Luna said.
The fire was burning in steep wooded hills adjacent to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in northern Pasadena.
A second fire in the Angeles National Forest was burning several miles to the east in a canyon above the city of Azusa. The 3.4-square-mile blaze, which started Tuesday afternoon, was 85 percent contained Saturday. No homes were threatened, and full containment was expected by Monday.
A wildfire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the south Los Angeles County coast was 100 percent contained Saturday afternoon, according to county fire officials. As many as 1,500 people were forced to flee at the height of thefire Thursday night. Six homes received minor exterior damage, but the only structures destroyed were an outbuilding and gazebo. No injuries were reported.
Southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County, a 3 1 /2-square-mile fire in a rural area of the San Bernardino National Forest was 10 percent contained.
To the north, in the state's coastal midsection, a 9.4-square mile fire threatening Pinnacles National Monument kept 100 homes under evacuation orders near the Monterey County town of Soledad.
The blaze, 60 percent contained, was started by agricultural fireworks used to scare animals away from crops. The fire destroyed one home.
In the southern part of Monterey County, firefighters had 100 percent containment of a 5 1 /4-square-mile fire that had threatened 20 ranch homes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday in Los Angeles and Monterey counties.
A state of emergency was declared Saturday for Mariposa County, where a nearly 5.5-square-mile fire burned in Yosemite National Park. The blaze was 30 percent contained, park officials said. No structures were threatened.
Information for this article was contributed by John Antczak of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 08/30/2009