LOS ANGELES — Two firefighters were killed Sunday when their vehicle rolled down a mountainside amid a wildfire that threatened 12,000 suburban homes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged those in the fire's path to get out as the blazes rained ash on cars as far away as downtown Los Angeles, spreading in all directions in dry conditions.
Firefighters fixed their attention on the blaze's fast moving eastern side, where flames lapped at the foot of the vital communications and astronomy center of Mount Wilson, and on the northwestern front, where the two firefighters were killed on Mount Gleason near the city of Acton.
"We ask for your understanding, for your patience as we move through this difficult time, and please, prayers for the families of our two brothers that we lost," Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bryant said through tears at a Sunday night news conference.
Bryant said the men's families have been notified. He did not release their identities or give a cause for the crash.
The blaze was only about 5 percent contained and had scorched 66 square miles in the Angeles National Forest. Mandatory evacuations were in effect for neighborhoods in Glendale, Pasadena and other cities and towns north of Los Angeles. Officials said air quality in parts of the foothills bordered on hazardous.
While thousands have fled, two people who tried to ride out the firestorm in a backyard hot tub were critically burned. The pair in Big Tujunga Canyon, on the southwest edge of the fire, "completely underestimated the fire" and the hot tub provided "no protection whatsoever," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Sunday.
The two individuals made their way to firefighters and were airlifted out by a sheriff's rescue helicopter. They received adequate notification to evacuate from deputies but decided to stay, Whitmore said.
One of the two was treated and released and the other remained hospitalized in stable condition. A third person was burned Saturday in an evacuation area along California 2 near Mount Wilson, officials said. Details of that injury were not immediately known.
"There were people that did not listen, and there were three people that got burned and got critically injured because they did not listen," Schwarzenegger said at a news conference at the fire command post.
The fire, which has consumed 35,200 acres in four days since it began Wednesday in the Angeles National Forest, spread rapidly with flames as long as 80 feet, the U.S. Forest Service said on its Web site. The fire had charred 5,500 acres as of Saturday morning.
The fire is now threatening the city of Acton, Calif., and local homes are being evacuated, said Jennifer Sanchez, a spokesman for the Angeles National Forest.
"The temperatures are still high and the winds are pushing the fire to the north," Sanchez said in a phone interview.
At least three homes deep in the Angeles National Forest were confirmed destroyed, but firefighters were likely to find others, Forest Service Capt. Mike Dietrich said.
Firefighters had hoped to keep the blaze from spreading up Mount Wilson, where many of the region's broadcast and communications antennas and a historic observatory are located.
But authorities said Sunday that flames were about to reach the mountain.
"It's not a matter of if it impacts Mount Wilson, it's a matter of when," said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mark Savage on KABC-TV. He estimated that the flames could leap to the top of the mountain within a few hours.
Savage added that firefighters could be pulled at any moment if the situation becomes dangerous.
Two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar astronomy programs are located at the observatory.
For the third straight day,humidity was very low and temperatures were expected in the high 90s. Some 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze.
Mandatory evacuations were also in effect for neighborhoods in Altadena and for the communities of La Crescenta and Big Tujunga Canyon.
The fire traveled six to eight miles overnight, burning as actively during the night as it did during the day, said Dietrich. Dietrich said he had never seen a fire grow so quickly without powerful Santa Ana winds to push it.
At the fire command post, Schwarzenegger praised firefighters for successfully protecting subdivisions in the foothills.
Rob Driscoll and his wife, Beth Halaas, said they lost their house in Big Tujunga Canyon. By Sunday morning they were desperate for more information and came to the command post to get answers.
"Our neighbors sent us photos of all the other houses that are lost," Halaas said, her voice breaking as her young son nestled his sunburned face in her arms. "We've heard as many as 30 houses burned."
Driscoll said 15 of his neighbors who live on private property within the forest were still waiting for word on their homes. Fire officials assured them teams were working to survey the damage.
At least four evacuation centers were set up at schools and community centers in the area.
The fire, which broke out Wednesday afternoon, was the largest and most dangerous of several burning around southern and central California and in Yosemite National Park.
As of Saturday, California had more than 5,200 firefighters battling eight major blazes across the state that burned more than 21,000 acres, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
Another 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 95 percent contained Sunday.
A wildfire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the south Los Angeles County coast was 100 percent contained, according to county fire officials.
Southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County, a 3.8-squaremile fire in a rural area of the San Bernardino National Forest was 75 percent contained as it burned in steep, rocky terrain. No structures were threatened.
To the north, in the state's coastal midsection, all evacuation orders were lifted Sunday after a 10-square-mile fire burned near the Monterey County town of Soledad. The blaze, 80 percent contained, was started by agricultural fireworks used to scare animals away from crops. The fire destroyed one home.
In Mariposa County, a nearly 7-square-mile fire burned in Yosemite National Park. The blaze was 50 percent contained Sunday, said park spokesman Vickie Mates. Two people sustained minor injuries, she said.
Park officials closed a campground and a portion of Highway 120, anticipating that the fire would spread north toward Tioga Road, the highest elevation route through the Sierra.
About 50 homes from the towns of El Portal and Foresta were under evacuation orders, said Brad Aborn, chairman of Mariposa's Board of Supervisors. Information for this article was contributed by Juliet Williams, Christopher Weber and Andrew Dalton of The Associated Press and by Dan Hart of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 1, 5 on 08/31/2009