(C) Common Dreams
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2 dead and more than 1,000 homes, businesses, other buildings destroyed in L.A. County fires [1]
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Date: 2025-01
Night of ‘mayhem’ as residents flee Sylmar mobile home park
Bright orange flames lit up the hills above the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar early Wednesday, where residents were allowed back into their homes after being ordered to evacuate Tuesday night.
Resident Russ Keipinger zipped around the community in his golf cart, his small white dog by his side, inspecting the area. He credited both state and city firefighters with containing the blaze, which engulfed a ridge near homes early Wednesday.
“They saved everything,” said Keipinger. “We thought it was going to be a complete loss like before [in 2008]. The blaze came right up to the park,” he said.
He showed The Times a video that he shot at 3 a.m. that showed the blaze cresting several hills near homes. Keipinger had evacuated his 84-year-old mother before returning to the park. Only a handful of people from the 600-home community had returned.
Keipinger described the previous night’s evacuation from the mobile home park as “mayhem,” as cars jammed the one roadway out of the complex. A second route was opened, he said, so residents could more easily flee.
Brush fires are common in these hillsides. The mobile home park has also been the site of devastating blazes, including the 2008 Sayre fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes at Oakridge.
On Wednesday morning, the smell of smoke engulfed the community and wisps of ash floated by. Several fire trucks from the Los Angeles Fire Department and one from the National Fire Service were positioned in a lot in the park.
In two trucks, firefighters could be seen with their heads resting against a window or steering wheel. One Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter told The Times that he’d been up all night battling the blaze.
A few other residents returned early Wednesday, pulling up to the front gates in the predawn darkness. The park remained eerily quiet, and the community’s history of fires was on many people’s minds.
Resident Maria Gomez slowly drove up to the gate after fleeing Tuesday night. “I’m feeling nervous,” said Gomez.
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[1] Url:
https://www.latimes.com/california/live/pacific-palisades-fire-updates-los-angeles
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