YOUTH CHARGED IN CASTAIC FIRE.

Byline: Laurence Darmiento and Jeannette DeSantis Daily News Staff Writers

Prosecutors charged a San Fernando teen with arson Wednesday as firefighters battled erratic winds, bees and August heat in a desperate bid to turn back a three-day-old fire that edged deeper into the Angeles National Forest.

By nightfall, the Marple Fire near Castaic had consumed more than 18,000 acres of dry brush - more than the 16,516 acres of land charred in the Old Topanga Fire in 1993 that burned from Calabasas to the sea.

Four minor injuries to firefighters were reported in the Castaic blaze.

More than 2,200 firefighters were on the fire lines Wednesday, aided by a small air force of 11 air tankers and a half-dozen helicopters, nearly 100 fire engines and eight bulldozers.

Fire officials say as many as 72,000 acres could be burned before the fire is contained. Two major power lines, five gas and oil lines are also threatened, officials said.

Through the day, residents of the Paradise Ranch mobile-home park nervously watched the flames in the distance before some residents voluntarily evacuated their homes for a second time.

Shifting winds also forced the second closure of the north- and southbound lanes of the Golden State Freeway on a day in which triple-digit temperatures and the low humidity created an ``almost red-flag alert condition.''

``We're encountering winds. They're erratic and changing direction,'' said Henry Rodriguez, a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman. ``It's hot. It's dry.''

Fire crews found that the flames spread so quickly Tuesday night that the fire engulfed four Los Angeles County fire crew trucks that were parked deep in a canyon of the forest. Two of the trucks were incinerated.

``Fortunately, the crews weren't with them,'' said county Capt. Steve Valenzuela.

The blaze nearly took six more Los Angeles County fire trucks Wednesday afternoon.

``The fire blew up near Sunset Ranch,'' said Los Angeles County Firefighter Darryl Bennitt. ``As it got nearer, we bailed out, and it blew over. We had no way to get back to our vehicles.''

Bennitt and about 60 other crewmen had to fall back while a Los Angeles County fire helicopter flew over and lowered six drivers to remove the vehicles.

And it all began with the flick of a lighter, authorities say.

Prosecutors charged a 15-year-old runaway with arson after he admitted to police that he set the fire. The boy, who was not identified because of his age, will be arraigned today on one count of arson to an inhabited structure and one count of arson to forest land.

``I don't know if he realized how serious it is,'' said Sgt. Heidi Clark, assigned to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department arson detail. ``He certainly knows he started a serious brush fire, but he didn't show a lot of emotion.

``He didn't give us any reason for starting it. He didn't extend any apologies. He just said he did it,'' Clark said. ``It's a sad story, but it's really very simple.''

The teen-ager was arrested just minutes after the fire started about 12:30 p.m. Monday. He was seen walking south on the northbound lanes of the Golden State Freeway near Lake Hughes Road by a CHP officer, officials said.

Clark said he had a disposable lighter in his pocket with which he admitted to setting the blaze on an impulse after his parents' car broke down.

His parents said the youth never returned home after going on an errand Sunday. He was reported missing just hours before the fire started.

Although the fire has burned toward lightly populated wilderness areas of the Angeles National Forest, it has threatened several homes and damaged some, but none of them has been left uninhabitable, firefighters said.

Four minor injuries were reported in battling the blaze, which ranged from heat exhaustion to poison oak. Some crews were attacked by wasps, while other crews eluded bee attacks or were protected by face netting.

``One guy was stung right below his eye and it swelled up,'' Ventura County Firefighter Andy Sigafoos said Wednesday after finishing a 26-hour shift on the fire lines.

``They started swarming around us, and we moved out,'' said Larry Drake, an Orange County firefighter, who said the insects appeared to come from bee hives along the Ridge Route.

Sigafoos said that several other members of his crew were stung on the neck and other areas by swarms of yellowjackets.

He said the afternoon wind provided relief from the swarming insects, but fanned the flames of the blaze that now stretches from Castaic to deep in the Angeles National Forest.

Sigafoos, a 27-year veteran, said he is amazed how quickly the fire spread.

Two water-dumping helicopters and four additional fixed-wing aircraft were brought in Wednesday to assist the forces on the ground battling the blaze that was 20 percent contained, Valenzuela said.

The brief closure of the Golden State Freeway near Lake Hughes Road allowed firefighters to set backfires along the freeway to better control the spread, said CHP Officer Larry Albrecht.

The partial closure of the state's major north-south artery forced northbound travelers to either take mountainous routes through the forest or to backtrack to the Antelope Valley Freeway to get to Highway 138.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) A water drop is made Wednesday as flam es approach a Castaic home.

(2) San Bernardino County firefighters Wednesday rest from their efforts to control the 3-day-old brush fire.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News