Tens of Thousands Flee As Fires Rage Near L.A.

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Wildfire Destroys Homes, Dorm Near Santa Barbara

Firefighters make gains on three raging wildfires in Southern California that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of residents to flee.

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Outages and blackouts were reported in Sherman Oaks, Northridge and Granada Hills. Traffic lights on surface streets shut off, further slowing traffic, and some people in blackout areas were reportedly trapped in elevators. Anticipating further blackouts, officials pleaded with residents to conserve energy and not use air conditioners or appliances.

About 165 homes in Sylmar were reportedly destroyed, and thousands of structures were threatened. In the Oakridge Mobile Home Park, flames melted street signs, rendering them illegible, and devastated about 500 residences. Officials declared the area a crime scene; arson investigators were on the property, they said.

"When you walk around the areas that were devastated, it looked like hell today," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) said at a news conference Saturday. Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) also declared one in the city of Los Angeles.

A handful of evacuation centers were opened and quickly filled. Horses were moved by the truckload to stables outside the area.

One Sylmar hospital, Olive View Medical Center, transferred 18 babies and 10 adult critical-care patients, some on ventilators, out of the hospital overnight as flames surrounded the building and the hospital's backup generators gave out, a hospital spokeswoman said. The power was restored about 5 a.m. Saturday, she said.

Along the Palos Verdes Peninsula, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles, a fire burned about 10 acres before firefighters and water-dropping helicopters contained it, said Inspector Daryl Jacobs of the Los Angeles County Police Department. No one was injured, and no structures were destroyed, Jacobs said.

Saturday's blazes follow the still-burning Tea fire that started Thursday night in Montecito, an area of Santa Barbara about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles. About 800 firefighters are battling that blaze, which forced more than 5,400 evacuations, injured 13 and was connected to one death.

Smoke from the fires was so thick that nearby firefighters and reporters wore goggles and face masks, unable at times to look in the direction of the blaze. Because of the "very unhealthful" air quality, officials asked residents in parts of the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita, and Ventura and Riverside counties, to stay indoors with the windows shut.

Last month, fires whipped by Santa Ana winds killed two people, destroyed thousands of homes and burned more than 27,000 acres statewide.