LOS ANGELES _ The brush fire raging in the rugged mountains in the Santa Clarita Valley has burned more than 22,000 acres, threatening hundreds of homes as firefighters battled Sunday to keep the fire from spreading.
Fueled by 20 mph winds and hillsides carpeted with tinderlike chaparral, the wildfire was burning in hills toward Acton by late Sunday afternoon. Hundreds of residents in the area north of Los Angeles were ordered to evacuate.
Mandatory evacuations were still in place Sunday for about 1,500 residents in parts of Sand and Placerita canyons, as well as for others along Little Tujunga Canyon road.
So far, 18 structures have been destroyed and another damaged in the Bear Divide and Sand Canyon areas, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. One fatality has been reported, but it is not yet clear if it is fire related.
The 14 Freeway in the Santa Clarita Valley was closed in both directions late Sunday afternoon as a precaution because of strong winds and the fire, authorities said.
The northbound lanes of the freeway, from the 5 Freeway to Santiago Canyon, and the southbound lanes, from Avenue N to Soledad Canyon, have been closed to traffic, according to the California Highway Patrol. It was not clear when the freeway would be reopened.
Motorists on the northbound side of the 14 Freeway in Lancaster were advised to drive with extra caution because of heavy winds, the CHP said.
Assisted by fixed-wing aircraft and water-dropping helicopters, more than 1,600 firefighters continue to battle to get ahead of the blaze. But the fire remains only 10 percent contained.
Decades without a major fire and years of drought left the valley primed for a fast-moving fire that was fueled by "excessive heat, low humidity, extreme dry fuels that have not burned for several decades," Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich said during a news conference Saturday.
"Five years ago, if we had a similar fire, we would have probably caught (it) at the ridge," Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Daryl L. Osby said during the news conference.
A man's body was found inside a car on Iron Canyon Road in the fire zone Saturday evening. Sheriff's homicide detectives are investigating the death.
At a Denny's in the Sand Canyon area early Sunday, residents swapped stories about the blaze.
A woman said her husband had seen a burned horse carcass during his morning walk, and a man described the scene as looking like Armageddon.
Nearby, Ascension Perez Salorio paced the restaurant, hoping for answers. He turned to a woman and asked, "Did my home burn down?"
Nobody knew.
Since evacuating his home on Little Tujunga Canyon Road late Friday, Salorio said he hasn't gotten any updates.
"All we can do now," he said, "is wait."
