Town Edgy Even as Fire Turns Away

WRIGHTWOOD — High winds that diverted the forest fire burning just over the ridge from her home brought wary relief Sunday to resident Nancy Jacobs, who plans to head back to work after a couple days off, leaving her smoky mountain valley for the smoggy one below.

She’s still nervous about being away from her home. Her photos and antiques are still packed. “If I go back to work tomorrow, I’m taking my dog,” she said.

After five days of living in the red-filtered light of a smoke cloud, Wrightwood residents are fairly sure the fire that has burned almost 12,000 acres nearby, including in the Sheep Mountain Wilderness, won’t make a rush for their homes.

But the shifty wind that made the cottonwoods shimmer in their valley Sunday stoked the flames on the alpine and granite ridges above.

The blaze, dubbed the “Charmin Fire” by locals because hikers burning toilet paper started it, flared up on its western end Sunday afternoon, heading toward a new $2-million visitor center.

“They’re going to work really hard to protect” the facility, said a U.S. Forest Service employee to concerned people in town. “Today is the one-year anniversary of it being open.”

For days the fire had ravaged a deep canyon as it crept toward Wrightwood. Sunday, it had burned to within slightly more than two miles of town on Blue Ridge Road, when the strong winds shifted it toward a heavily forested area in the direction of the Grassy Hollow Visitor Center.

More than 1,700 firefighters were battling the flames with backfires and water drops. By Sunday, they had sustained only five minor injuries.

No structures had been destroyed, but the overall cost of battling the blaze and reseeding the slopes was expected to be at least $18 million in this major watershed for the San Gabriel River.

By Sunday, charred tree trunks, bare as toothpicks, lined the slopes, and Angeles Crest Highway remained closed. Although the fire was more than 50% contained, officials declined to estimate how long it could burn.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said San Bernardino County Fire Capt. Jim Wilkins, standing at Inspiration Point on Blue Ridge Road. “In essence, we have a large natural chimney,” he added, pointing down the canyon toward Azusa. “If the fire would come here it would come hot and fast.”

*

In Wrightwood, through the pale smoke, residents could hear the thrum of the air tankers dropping retardant around the visitor center.

The planes unnerved four young backpackers trekking through the pine forests below. “We took a nap right there on top of that mountain, and we saw the tankers coming in all day,” said Jose “Chano” Rodriguez as he hiked back to town.

His friend John Gonzales chimed in, “It wasn’t a good feeling, so we came down.”

In front of a local hardware store, residents gathered around an information kiosk where forest officials kept them updated on the fire and allayed their fears.

“The smoke looks like it’s getting close to the ridge,” said Dale Jefferson with concern, as he pointed above the town’s wood cabins and shake roofs. He was still worried about the horses down on his ranch.

Anita Bishop, 75, comes to the information booth several times a day to calm her nerves and was more than grateful for the firefighters’ efforts.

“People up here in Wrightwood are so thankful that we had a steak fry and brought baked goods for all the [firefighters] who don’t live up here,” she said. On the road out of the community, a handmade sign read: “Thank you (again) firefighters for saving our town.”

But many residents were still unsettled. “I think there’s a lot to be worried about,” said Jan Thompson, as she painted a window sill in her beauty shop.

In the middle of remodeling, she and her husband never stopped working--even when they thought the business might burn to the ground. And with a newfound detachment, she added, “If it’s going to go, it’s going to go.”