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Officials say four men and a woman refused to leave the Angeles National Forest two days ago.
Smoke from the Station Fire rises over downtown Los Angeles, on Monday.
AP photo
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says five people who refused to heed wildfire evacuation orders are trapped in a canyon and it’s too dangerous to rescue them.
Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore says the four men and a woman refused to leave the Angeles National Forest two days ago. On Monday they called for help because they were unable to leave a ranch in Gold Canyon.
Whitmore says a sheriff’s helicopter had planned to help but the flames are too intense and authorities must wait for the fire to pass by before going in.
Authorities say three other people were badly burned over the weekend after refusing evacuation orders. Two of them sought refuge in a hot tub.
The 164-square-mile blaze has burned 21 homes and killed two firefighters.
Fire crews battling the blaze in the Angeles National Forest tried desperately to beat back the flames and prayed for weather conditions to ease. The fire was the largest of at least eight burning across California after days of triple-digit temperatures and low humidity.
The flames scorched 134 square miles of brush and threatened 12,000 homes, but the lack of wind kept them from driving explosively into the hearts of the dense suburbs northeast of Los Angeles.
“It’s burning everywhere,” U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Dianne Cahir said. “When it gets into canyons that haven’t burned in numerous years, it takes off. If you have any insight into the good Lord upstairs, put in a request.”
Columns of smoke billowed high into the air before dispersing into a gauzy white haze that burned eyes and prompted warnings of unhealthy air throughout the Los Angeles area.
Fire crews set backfires and sprayed fire retardant at Mount Wilson, home to at least 20 television transmission towers, radio and cell phone antennas, and the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory. The observatory also houses two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar university programs.