1 Dead, Dozens Of Homes Damaged By Saddleridge Fire In Porter Ranch – CBS Los Angeles

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A man has died and dozens of homes have been destroyed by the wind-driven Saddleridge Fire raging through the foothill communities of Sylmar and Porter Ranch in Los Angeles.

(credit: CBS)

Fire officials say the Saddleridge Fire has grown to 4,700 acres as of daybreak Friday, after initially being reported as a 1-acre blaze at 9 p.m. Thursday. One man in his 50s died of a heart attack amid the wildfire, which damaged at least 25 homes, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas said.

A firefighter was also injured, suffering a minor eye injury.

The gusty winds have whipped up the blaze, which officials say is moving at a rate of 800 acres per hour toward the 5/14 Freeway interchange and the Santa Clarita area. The cause of the fire is not known yet.

(credit: inciweb.nwcg.gov)

About 23,000 homes  — 100,000 residents — are under mandatory evacuation orders. Four emergency shelters have been opened to evacuated residents and their small pets in Northridge and Sylmar, but Mason Park in Chatsworth and Granada Hills are both at capacity. Shepherd Church, a megachurch in Porter Ranch, is not an official evacuation center but has been providing food and shelter to residents.

A total of 1,000 firefighters have been deployed to battle the Saddleridge Fire, 500 from neighboring local agencies. The department also had 25 rescue ambulances assisting with the evacuations of the elderly and disabled.

With daybreak, Terrazas said that a more thorough damage assessment can be done and that super scoopers and a Sky Crane can be deployed to also battle the blaze.

“This is a very dynamic fire,” he said. “The public can help us by listening to police officer and firefighter directions, especially when we are talking about evacuations. Do not wait to leave. If we ask you to evacuate, please evacuate.”

A request for assistance from FEMA was granted Friday morning, even as eight other large fires burn uncontrolled within the state.

Sylmar’s Juvenile Courthouse will be closed and cases scheduled to be heard Friday will be continued. Los Angeles Superior Court officials say cases with statutory deadlines will be heard at Eastlake Juvenile Courthouse, 1601 Eastlake Ave. in Los Angeles. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s offices in Chatsworth and San Fernando will also be closed.

SoCal Gas says its Aliso Canyon storage facility is safe and has been evacuated. Firefighters have taken up defense positions around the facility, and SoCal Gas says they don’t anticipate any damage to its the storage wellheads from the fire.

The fire has shut down a key freeway interchange between southern and central California and has caused major backups well beyond the borders of the fire. The 118 Freeway between Balboa and DeSoto was shut down, along with both directions of the 210 Freeway between the 5 and 118 freeways.

Residents who want to receive emergency alerts about the Saddleridge Fire can text READY to 888-777 or sign up at emergency.lacity.org/notifyla.

Source Article from https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/10/11/1-dead-saddleridge-fire-porter-ranch-sylmar/

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