UPDATE, 9:05 p.m.: The Williams Fire continues to burn in the San Gabriel Canyon, prompting officials to close all of the San Gabriel Canyon for Labor Day.
UPDATE, 8:05 p.m.: Numerous resources are being utilized to fight the Williams Fire, according to information provided by Inciweb:
- Eight air tankers, with a combination of state, local and federal resources.
- Five helicopters.
- 20 engines.
- One bulldozer.
- 12 handcrews.
No structures are threatened at this time. Officials ordered the evacuation of the entire San Gabriel Canyon, including recreational areas along Highway 39, Crystal lake, East and West Fork, Off-Highway Vehicle Areas, Oaks Picnic Area and Camp Williams.
The origin of the fire is reportedly between Camp Williams and a shooting range on East Fork Road, about 3 and a half miles east of Highway 39.
Aircraft have stopped for the night and will begin Monday morning, according to scanner reports.
UPDATE, 6:53 p.m.: The fire is over 1,000 acres with no containment, according to ABC 7 News.
The fire is believed to have started at Camp Williams around 2:15 p.m. There has been no word on injuries. The trailer community and a rehabilitation center were evacuated, according to City News Service.
UPDATE, 5:50 p.m.: City News Service reports that more than 200 firefighters are fighting the fire on the ground along with seven aircraft, with more air units on the way. The blaze is moving through the Sheep Mountain Wilderness, authorities said. But no evacuations have been ordered for the city of Glendora, according to Glendora Police, adding that the blaze is moving in a northeast direction.
UPDATE, 4:25 p.m.: The acreage of the fire is reportedly at 700 acres and growing, according to Los Angeles County Fire scanner reports. Camp Williams was being evacuated as a precaution, officials said.
PREVIOUSLY: A small fire has broken out in the mountain areas north of Glendora and San Dimas.
The half-acre fire was reported sometime after 2 p.m. near mile marker 2 near East Fork Road. The cause of the fire has not been revealed. Power lines in the mountain areas have already been affected, according to scanner reports.
According to a deputy at the scene, one line has fallen down, and another was seen on fire. A helitanker was being prepared to aid in the fire fight, according to scanner reports.
Authorities are working to evacuate patrons at the San Gabriel River and are shutting down Highway 39 at East Fork Road.
Officials have requested Glendora Police to shut down a portion of Glendora Mountain Road northbound.
If you have photos of the fire from your viewpoint, upload them to Patch and share with the community.
This story will continue to be updated as information becomes available.
....Over 7,000 acres at 8pm smoke will be going in to las Vegas valley tonight
Not too much wind. cool tonight. Fire lays down during the nights. They will go all gangbusters in the morning.....and poof...its all out From my perspective no way can this thing go to jennifers house. She is way out of the area, and besides all paths to her house were burned in 2009.
One minor, but important & avoidable problem for those who tried to find current news online is the naming of this Azusa Cyn / Angeles Forest wildfire in the San Gabriels the "Williams Fire." Surely the USFS and other authorities could've picked another name instead of the same name as another wildfire in the Forest? It was difficult on the Internet to get the most recent news quickly on search engines because of this confusion of the fire's name with the 2002 Williams Fire near Wrightwood. This issue was so easy to avoid... Surely someone could've figured this out? Also, why is the official InciWeb website always the last to post fire information? Local news media was the best source of initial info. and is still more reliable than the so-called official Incident Website. Why is that site hours behind even Patch news reports?
Not knowing what was going on with much closer to home (literally) during fires above Duarte or Monrovia used to drive me crazy so I bought a hand-held scanner 15 years ago. It's portable and I can take it with me when I join neighbors grouped in the street. It's a wonder to listen to the deployment of crews and equipment, air drops, food and water situations, etc. Via a scanner you can know exactly where the fire is and what's being done about it. All the scanners I've had are from Radio Shack. The newer ones are multi-trunked and a tad more complicated than the older models.
(Another good site to keep bookmarked is GeoMac which uses satellite data to show the fire perimeter, where burning is occuring, etc. http://www.geomac.gov/index.shtml Click on the "View Perimeters" link at the top then use the dropdown to select the fire you want to see. There's nothing on the Williams fire yet.)