SANTA CLARITA, Calif. -- A raging wildfire that forced thousands from their homes on the edge of Los Angeles continued to burn out of control Monday as frustrated fire officials said residents reluctant to heed evacuation orders made conditions more dangerous and destructive for their neighbors.
The smoky fire tore through drought-ravaged brush that hadn't burned in decades amid a heat wave and grew over the weekend. It burned more than 55 square miles and destroyed at least 18 residences.
Firefighters were unable to battle some of the blaze because of evacuation holdouts they had to spend time helping to safety, County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said.
Some firefighters "felt that they lost additional structures because they had to stop what they were doing to help citizens evacuate," Osby said.
U.S. Forest Service spokesman Justin Correll urged residents to leave quickly when evacuation orders are issued because their "property becomes secondary."
"We don't want firemen to become traffic directors," he said.
The fire was one of two burning in California. By Monday, a blaze in the scenic Big Sur region of the Central Coast had destroyed 20 homes and threatened 1,650 others as it burned 23 square miles.
In Santa Clarita, 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, a fire broke out Friday near a highway and quickly spread through arid vegetation in rugged mountains before making its way down into canyons with subdivisions of large homes.
By Monday, about 10 percent of Santa Clarita's 200,000 residents had been ordered out of their homes. The majority were allowed back Monday night, with residents of two neighborhoods remaining out of their homes.
The wind-driven fire kicked up Saturday like a "crazy storm," said Kara Franklin, who said sand driven by heavy winds hit her in the face as she tried to get a horse and donkey into a trailer so she could tow the animals away. From a ridgetop, she saw flames engulf a neighborhood.
When the blaze appeared to die down, she thought the worst was over and returned. Then it flared up again and she and her son used a garden hose to put out embers that ignited spot fires on her property until they were forced to flee.
"The heat was so intense," Franklin said Monday from a high school that had been turned into an evacuation center.
Three Forest Service firefighters lost their homes at a remote fire station in the San Gabriel Mountains, including two who were fighting the fire.
Nearly 3,000 firefighters were trying to put out the Santa Clarita blaze.
Firetrucks lined streets of vacant and nearly vacant subdivisions as helicopters dropped water and planes unleashed fire retardant to protect homes.
Firefighters saved about 2,000 homes in the fire's first three days, Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp said.
One belonged to Ted Kellum, a defense contractor who moved in two years ago with his wife and four children.
Kellum recalled Monday that he saw smoke pouring over a mountain ridge Friday and fled with his family when the flames followed the next day.
On Sunday, their 20-year-old son lied about going to see a girlfriend and instead crawled under a bridge and crept back into the neighborhood to check on their house.
Kellum and his wife, Helen, teared up as they recalled the joy of finding out the house they loved was still standing.
Laurent Lacore, a native of France who lives in Santa Clarita, was among those who evacuated on Saturday, the last of his family of four to leave as the fire bore down on his house.
"The flames were right behind our backyard," he said.
He returned Monday night delighted to find the house and everything around it had been saved, and could see a line of red fire retardant where a helicopter had stopped the fire's approach.
Information for this article was contributed by Kristin Bender, Olga R. Rodriguez and John Antczak of The Associated Press.
A Section on 07/26/2016