The massive wildfire that has been burning in the Angeles National Forest for a week has prompted an evacuation order for some residents of Arcadia and Sierra Madre on Sunday.
Arcadia and Sierra Madre officials ordered all residents north of Elkins Avenue and east of Santa Anita Avenue to evacuate due to “dangerous wildfire conditions.” That’s about 32 homes in Sierra Madre, according to the city.
Authorities advised residents to take Santa Anita Avenue to leave.
The Red Cross said it has reopened an evacuation point at Gate 5 of Santa Anita Park.
“Please come to the evacuation point if you need refuge; every resident will be given safe lodging and food,” the group said.
The Bobcat Fire grew to more than 33,312 acres by Sunday as flames continued to spread north toward Highway 2 and south toward the city of Monrovia, officials said.
Authorities in Monrovia said they’ve encouraged five to six households at the top of Cloverleaf Drive to leave.
“They already vacated when we made door-to-door contact/phone calls,” said a post from the city’s Twitter account.
The fire “is now positioned in a drainage area below Chantry Flats and as it continues moving and burning, it now presents a threat to the communities of Arcadia and Sierra Madre,” Monrovia officials said.
Residents in Monrovia—along with those in Bradbury, Altadena, Duarte, Pasadena and the remaining areas of Arcadia and Sierra Madre— have not been issued evacuation orders, but they are under evacuation warnings.
Residents can receive alerts from the county by signing up at lacounty.gov/emergency/alert-la.
The top priority for the more than 800 firefighters deployed to blaze is to keep it away from the foothill communities, said an update from the federal website InciWeb.
The fire, which started near the Cogswell Dam above Azusa seven days ago, has burned an estimated 33,312 acres. As of Sunday, it was only 6% contained.
It’s one of two wildfires that erupted in Southern California during last weekend’s historic heat wave.
The other blaze, called the El Dorado Fire, has burned about 14,300 acres in the San Bernardino Mountains. It’s 41% contained eight days after erupting during a gender reveal party at a Yucaipa park.
The fire has destroyed at least four homes and two other structures, authorities said.
Officials there lifted some evacuation orders Sunday morning but said that those who live east of Bryant Street on Highway 38 still can’t return. Residents can sign up for emergency alerts from San Bernardino County on sbcounty.gov/SBCFire and from Riverside County on rivcoready.org/AlertRivCo.
The two wildfires have sent plumes of smoke over Southern California, causing unhealthy air for parts of the region.
