MORE FIRE DANGER UP AHEAD DAY BLAZE ALMOST OUT; OTHER AREAS VULNERABLE.Byline: SUSAN ABRAM Staff Writer A monthlong ground and aerial assault Aerial Assault is a horizontal scrolling shooter video game where the Player takes the role of a Freedom Fighter who must destroy five targets, including the Vinsk (a aerial battleship that is clearly influenced by the Space Battleship Yamato), CB-53 Bomber, "El", and two on the massive Day Fire north of Los Angeles neared an end Monday and authorities warned of the high danger that could lie ahead. Two newly leased SuperScoopers were deployed Monday to a tiny grass fire in Santa Clarita just hours after the Canadian CL-415 air tankers were unveiled to the media as part of the official start to Southern California's fire season. The mini, international firefighting fleet -- including a Canadian Bell 412 helicopter, a Russian Sikorsky S-70 Firehawk helicopter and a U.S.- Canadian Erickson Air-Crane helicopter -- shone Monday on the tarmac at Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport (IATA: VNY, ICAO: KVNY, FAA LID: VNY) is a public airport located in Van Nuys, California in the San Fernando Valley, within the Los Angeles city limits. . Los Angeles city and county officials say the aircraft are among the best tools to battle the seasonal, Santa Ana wind-driven brush fires. ``They call the Santa Anas the `devil winds,' because to us they are the devil,'' said Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman. ``These are wonderful tools we have, but we've had fires where even when all those tools are available, we still can't get a fire back far enough.'' Pilots from Quebec will man the SuperScoopers, which carry 1,600 tons of water. This year is predicted to be an average fire season, Freeman said, with hot, dry Santa Ana winds Santa Ana Winds may refer to: 1. Santa Ana wind, a local Southern California reference to Föhn winds, a meteorological phenomenon occurring as a layer of wind is forced over a mountain range -- drying the air -- which then passes over the crest and begins to move downslope -- expected to blow through crisp, tinder-dry brush that grew lush in an early spring, but brittle after record-breaking summer heat. The Day Fire offered proof as to the devastation a wind-driven blaze can cause in Southern California. The fire has scorched scorch v. scorched, scorch·ing, scorch·es v.tr. 1. To burn superficially so as to discolor or damage the texture of. See Synonyms at burn1. 2. 250 square miles of brush -- an area larger than the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. -- in the Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a forest located in southern and central California, which includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Monterey, extending inland. Elevations range from sea level to 8,831 feet. . It has so far cost about $72 million to contain. Fighting the blaze from high above proved most effective, as flames burned down steep terrain and destroyed miles of tinder-dry chaparral and brush that hadn't burned in more than 100 years, officials said. ``We used 18 helicopters and 12 air tankers and it was quite an air show,'' said Mike Catron, an independent contractor A person who contracts to do work for another person according to his or her own processes and methods; the contractor is not subject to another's control except for what is specified in a mutually binding agreement for a specific job. who pilots firefighting aircraft. ``From our standpoint, the fire air cranes, the Sikorskys and heavy air tankers are hard to beat.'' Fire officials are also bracing for the possibility of a heavy El Nino season -- which could bring heavy rains and mudslides to area hills left barren by the Topanga Fire of 2005. ``Our scientists are saying (El Nino's) forming,'' said Bill Hoffer, spokesman for the National Weather Service office in Oxnard. ``There's definitely going to be something. We just don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. which way it's going to go.'' The phenomenon, a combination of water warming in the tropical Pacific and the movement of high-level winds, is blamed for massive flooding and landslides in Southern California. Freeman said landslides along the 24,000 acres that burned in the Topanga Fire are a concern. ``There is always the chance of it if we get heavy rains,'' he said. ``But we'll be more concerned about that area at the tail end of fire season.'' In 1997 and 1998, El Nino caused devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. floods in California, dumping 31.01 inches of rain in downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or and set records in Chatsworth (44.19 inches), Simi Valley (40.05 inches) and Northridge (36.10 inches). susan.abram(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3664 DAY FIRE AT A GLANCE Started: Sept. 4, Labor Day Acres burned: 162,707 Cost of containment: $70 million Personnel battling blaze: 4,000 CAPTION(S): 2 photos, 2 boxes, map Photo: (1 -- color) One of two SuperScoopers leased by the Los Angeles County Fire Department Not to be confused with Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including the City of La is on display as Michel Proulx, left, a pilot from Quebec, and county Fire Inspector Ed Lozano walk by. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer (2 -- color) Sikorsky S-70 Firehawk, heli-tanker Box: (1) DAY FIRE AT A GLANCE (see text) (2) The Day Fire Sources: www.inciweb.org, Daily News research Map: The Day Fire Warren Huskey/Staff Artist |
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