‘Saddleridge fire’ forces evacuation

A fast-growing brush wildfire broke out in a Los Angeles community on Thursday night, hours after a fire in neighboring Riverside County tore through a mobile home park in Calimesa.

In Calimesa, 74 structures were destroyed and 16 others were damaged, officials said and noted that the fire – which started in Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley north of downtown Los Angeles — prompted mandatory evacuations. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said that the so-called Saddleridge Brush Fire grew from 60 acres to 1,600 acres within hours.

Christie Lugo Leigh, a resident who evacuated said in an interview that “the glow that surrounded us was so bright orange, it looked like it was in our back yard.” Leigh said she got her daughter and dog and not much else and fled.

Nearly 300 children living at a juvenile hall were being evacuated and Los Angeles County Probation Department spokeswoman Kerri Webb said there are no injuries, but people were rattled by the close proximity of the fire.

The juveniles are being taken from the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmer to a juvenile facility in Downey.

The wildfire was zero percent contained early Friday and had destroyed at least one commercial building. Aerial video broadcast on television showed a home burning and closed the 210 freeway in both directions and a truck route on the 5 freeway, the California Highway Patrol said.

Thursday’s fires came as so-called Santa Ana winds, which blow down from mountains in the northern part of the state into the south, began gusting strongly Thursday afternoon. Maximum winds of 46 mph were recorded in Sylmar on Thursday night, the National Weather Service said.