2009 Southern California wildfires

Firefighters are silhouetted against a blazing hillside in Sunland on Tuesday. Cooler, cloudier and more humid weather has slowed the progress of the Station fire, which continues to burn in the mountains north of Los Angeles.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A back fire burns along a ridge above homes on Sky Ridge Drive in La Crescenta.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

A resident sits on his roof to watch the Station fire burn in a canyon near homes off Boston Avenue in La Crescenta.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Members of the Mule Creek State Prison Fire Department work on a back burn beneath equipment supporting the Mt. Wilson Observatory telescopes as the Station fire moves closer Tuesday. In the background are radio and TV antennae.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A Martin Mars Super Scooper flies over one of the telescopes atop Mt. Wilson, moments before dropping 7,200 gallons of water to keep flames away from the Mt. Wilson Observatory and radio towers Tuesday.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A resident talks on her cellphone as a smoky hillside looms behind homes on Boston Avenue in La Crescenta on Tuesday.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters scramble to control a backfire near the backyard of a home on Arnell Place in La Crescenta as the Station fire continues to burn Tuesday.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters douse brush as flames burn in a canyon, moving away from a home on Arnell Place in La Crescenta on Tuesday.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Kids play football after being allowed to return to their homes on Goss Canyon Avenue with the Station fire still burning beyond the charred hills in La Crescenta on Tuesday. “Yesterday it was a battle zone. Now it’s a football field again,” said resident John Kornarens, who has lived on the street for two years.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A helicopter drops water on a burning ridgeline in Tujunga. Cooler, cloudier and more humid weather has slowed the progress of the Station fire, which continues to burn out of control in the mountains north of Los Angeles.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A Cal Fire crew works at setting backfires to remove brush that would be fuel for the approaching Station fire around the Mt. Wilson Observatory and radio towers.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A water-dropping helicopter hovers near the southwestern flank of the Station fire, where California Office of Emergency Services firefighters monitor the progress.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Martine Colette, founder of the Wildlife Waystation on Little Tujunga Road in the Angeles National Forest above Sunland, says goodbye while trying to comfort the 13 chimpanzees that were loaded into cages for transport to a safe holding location at the L.A. Zoo. Colette and her staff, with help from volunteers, hope to evacuate as many of the hundreds of animals kept at the waystation. As of Tuesday afternoon, approximately half of the animals have been transported, but for the larger animals, such as lions, tigers, and bears, finding cages has been a problem.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Neil Egland, head animal trainer at the Wildlife Waystation in Little Tujunga Canyon, and animal handler Andrea Kelley tend to Moungar the Bengal tiger, who was moved to a cage in a van to be taken to a safe place Tuesday.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Neil Egland cools off Kachina, an American black bear, who is being evacuated from the Wildlife Waystation.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Folsom firefighter Caprice Huguenot helps Bob Friend move a cage for evacuating animals from the Wildlife Waystation in the Angeles National Forest. About half the animals at the waystation have been moved, but the larger animals, including lions and tigers, may have to ride out the fire at the facility.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Tigers pace in their cage at the Wildlife Waystation. Volunteers are working to evacuate as many of the animals from the Angeles National Forest facility as possible.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

California Highway Patrol Officer David Lee closes Soledad Canyon Road and Bootlegger Canyon Road in Acton.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

From a lakeside dock in Yucaipa Regional Park, the McHenry family cheers as a Sikorsky S64 Sky Crane firefighting helicopter goes “In the Dip” for another load of water Tuesday. The parents and their son spent the night camping in the park after receiving a mandatory evacuation order from their nearby home. By about midday, half dozen aircraft were dousing hot spots in the all but extinguished Pendleton and Oak Glen fires. Cal Fire officials kept all firefighters and gear in the park in case lighting strikes or wind start new fires overnight.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Dozens of flags mark potential evidence where fire investigators believe the Oak Glen fire started along Oak Glen Road.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A helicopter drops fire retardant on a part of the Station fire burning close to homes in Tujunga’s Blanchard Canyon.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The Station fire burns above homes in La Crescenta.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Flames from the Station fire approach Mt. Wilson Observatory in the Angeles National Forest.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A car tire is completely melted by fire in Acton’s Aliso Canyon.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Elk Mountain Hot Shots from Lake County head out to cut a fire break near a La Crescenta-area home on Pine Cone Road as the Station fire flares up.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Julie Garcia, 59, and her daughter Jessi Garcia, 19, hug each other Tuesday after seeing their home gutted by the Station fire that swept through their neighborhood on La Paloma Canyon Road at Vogel Flat in Tujunga.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Tujunga neighbors support each other as they walk on La Paloma Canyon Road towards their homes in Vogel Flat.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Charred remains of a vintage vehicle that was destroyed when the Station fire swept through the Delta Flat area of Tujunga.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Travis Riner, 25, tries to salvage whatever he can from the charred remains of the home where he had lived for eight years on the 3000 block of Stonyvale Road at Vogel Flat in Tujunga.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A view of Pennsylvania Avenue in La Crescenta where people gathered to watch the fire raging in the mountains on Tuesday morning.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Lt. Curt Graham, from Sutter County fire, keeps an eye on the fire that came very close to the structure of Ananda Ashrama and its temple on Tuesday morning in La Crescenta.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighter walks along a control burn applied in the neighborhood of Pinecrest in La Crescenta. The fire was set to protect homes from the Station fire, which has charred 122,000 acres.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Capt. Scott Herring, left, keeps an eye on the flames as firefighter Jason Watkins keeps the trees wet in the backyard of a home in the 3000 block of Hopeton Road in La Crescenta.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A U.S. Forest Service firefighter battles flames in La Crescenta.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Robert Steffensen, 49, has lived in his La Crescenta house since 1975. He stands on his roof with a garden hose, trying to protect his home from falling ash. The Forest Service set a backfire to help protect the homes on this ridge from the sprawling Station fire.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters on a backfire behind a home on Pinelawn Drive in La Crescenta.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times / August 31, 2009)

A group of young men watch the Station fire from a hill overlooking Tujunga on Monday night.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Matthew Cleaver, 20, of Arizona keeps an eye on a backfire near the corner of Rosemont Avenue and Rockdell Street in La Cresenta. The Forest Service set the backfire to help protect homes on the ridge.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

U.S. Forest Service firefighters watch closely after lighting a backfire in La Crescenta. The Station fire has burned more than 105,000 acres.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Roger Daniels, a La Crescenta resident since 1964, watches a backfire from the edge of his roof.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighter climbs up a hose after a backfire is lit in La Crescenta.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Vincente Moreno, a U.S. Forest Service firefighter, stands guard off Pineglen Road in La Crescenta. The Forest Service set a backfire to help protect homes on this ridge from the Station blaze.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County fire investigators survey the vehicle that went off the road and fell nearly 1,000 feet down a steep ravine near Mt. Gleason in Angeles National Forest, killing county firefighters Tedmund Hall, 47, and Arnaldo Quinones, 34.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

A scared Alexis Faieta cries in the back seat of the family vehicle as her parents, April and John Faieta, prepare to evacuate from Haines Canyon Avenue in Tujunga on Monday.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

A towering pyrocumulus cloud created by the Station fire in Angeles National Forest billows into a blue sky behind downtown Los Angeles.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Smoke from the Station fire over the Angeles National Forest as seen from a helicopter.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Plumes of smoke from the Station fire rise to the north of telescopes on Mt. Wilson. Plans have been made for an aerial assault on the fire.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Downtown Los Angeles is obscured by smoke from nearby fires on Monday. Dodger Stadium is in the foreground.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

An air tanker makes a fire retardant drop behind Los Rios Rancho along Glen Oaks Road in Yucaipa.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighter throws sand on burning brush on Glen Oaks Road in Yucaipa.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy stands near a facsimile of the Statue of Liberty in La Crescenta.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A deer walks through charred forest in the Angeles National Forest near Acton.  (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Barracks at an L.A. County firefighting camp at Mt. Gleason were destroyed..  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

A charred Los Angeles County fire truck sits at the bottom of a hill on Mt. Gleason in the Angeles National Forest.  (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

The Station fire burns above a home on Willow Haven Drive in La Crescenta early Monday morning in the Angeles National Forest. A reverse-911 call was put through to evacuate the area overnight.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Jennifer DeLeon of Littlerock works to keep a mask on the face of her 8-month-old daughter, Emily Magana, as they prepare to board the 206 Metrolink Train at the Vincent Grade-Acton Station early Monday morning for a doctor’s appointment in downtown Los Angeles. The mask was provided by a Metrolink supervisor.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Smoke from the Station fire billows as the moon glows over Soledad Canyon Road in Acton.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighter retreats on Aliso Canyon Road in Acton as the Station fire rages  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A helicopter finishes a water drop and flies over the setting sun over the town of Acton.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A charred landscape smolders as the Station fire continues its destructive course along Aliso Canyon Road in Acton.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Will Moriarty and his son Max, 2, from Newhall, keep an eye on the Station fire along Soledad Canyon Road in Acton on Sunday.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A chimney is all that remains of one of several structures that burned along Big Tujunga Canyon Road as part of the Station fire that has consumed thousands of acres and continues to burn.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Ted Hamm stays behind to protect his mobile trailer home as the Station fire makes a pass to his property off Aliso Canyon Road in Acton. His home survived the flames. He’s been living on the property for three years and hopes to build on it. “We bought it for the view. It’s just not going to be as pretty,” he said.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Communication towers in the San Gabriel Mountains are threatened by the Station fire.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Under mandatory evacuation orders, residents began moving their animals and fleeing their homes as the Station fire approached the rural town of Acton on Sunday.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Several structures along Big Tujunga Canyon Road in the Angeles National Forest were destroyed by a brush fire that has been raging for the last few days. Thousands of acres have burned and the fire is not close to being under control.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighter clears brush out of the way to keep a fire from flaring up in the La Cañada area. Water drops from firefighting helicopters helped protect nearby homes from approaching flames.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighting helicopter prepares to make a water drop while residents on the ground try to put water on their roofs and surrounding brush in the area of La Cañada.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters battle a fire that heads up a ridge in the La Cañada area. Thousands of acres have already burned in the blaze.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Patrick Schmitz, a firefighter from the Guadalupe Fire squad in Central California, photographs a glowing orange sun hidden behind dark smoke rising from the Station fire that creeped over the mountain in Acton overnight.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Arnold Torrez,73, left, Joseph Rini, 11, and Scott and Rosanne Wright watch the Station fire creep up the mountains not far from their hilltop home on Olson Road in Acton.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Residents watch the Station fire move closer to their homes while firefighters scramble to protect the area. Several areas in Southern California are currently on fire and temperatures over 100 degrees in many areas are not helping the situation.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Flames rage through the brush in La Cañada, one of several Southern California areas besieged by wildfires. Thousands of acres have burned since the Station fire began.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

The DC-10 in action.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A cargo train passes through Acton as a plume of smoke rises from the Station fire.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighting crew Scorpion 3 from Sequoia National Forest, about to go into action, watch a raging fire in the mountains above Acton.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A DC-10 drops fire retardant on the Station fire, as seen from Soledad Canyon Road in Acton.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Josh Yeh tries to protect his home in La Cañada Flintridge.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Josh Yeh, whose family chose to ignore a mandatory evacuation order, uses a garden hose to keep his roof wet in La Cañada Flintridge.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters defend a home on Canalda Drive in La Cañada Flintridge.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters from a strike team keep an eye on the Station fire as it rages in the Angeles National Forest near Canalda Drive in La Cañada Flintridge.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Some residents of the Thousand Trails campground in Acton camp out along Antelope Woods Road this morning.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A state fire crew parked along Soledad Canyon Road in Acton to keep an eye on the Station Fire.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Three members of a state fire crew take a rest in their firetruck along Soledad Canyon Road in Acton this morning. The Station fire marched north overnight through remote mountain ridges toward Acton, forcing mandatory evacuations.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

La Cañada Flintridge resident Patti Maloof sports a mask at a checkpoint on Ocean View Boulevard as she keeps a close eye on the burning hills near her home.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A La Cañada Flintridge resident arrives at an Ocean View Boulevard police checkpoint to try to see whether her home was spared from the Station fire.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Rodney Cash wears a mask to help filter smoke at a checkpoint on Ocean View Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge as the Station fire rages near homes in the Angeles National Forest. Fire authorities report that about 35,200 acres were burned as of Sunday morning. About 10,000 homes are threatened.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Flames from the Station fire sweep across Angeles Crest Highway.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Fire crews watch as a planned back fire burns itself out behind a home on Forest Green Drive in La Cañada Flintridge.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Flames threaten a home on San Gorgonio Road in La Cañada Flintridge.  (Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times)

Homeowners Jack and Debra Carr feel relief after hearing word from a U.S. Forest Service employee that their home in Big Tujunga Canyon is safe on Saturday night.  (Christina House / For The Times)

A plane drops fire retardant on a burning hillside above homes in Altadena. The Station fire has consumed more than 21,000 acres, propelled by temperatures that eclipsed 100 degrees and single-digit humidity.  (Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times)

Smoke billows above downtown Los Angeles as the La Cañada Flintridge fire burns in the mountains north of the city.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

La Cañada Flintridge residents Sue Miles, left, and her husband John, try to relax at a temporary shelter in the La Cañada High School gym after receiving a mandatory evacuation order to leave their house Saturday afternoon.  (Christine House / For The Times)

A sailboat makes its way through the harbor in Marina del Rey against a backdrop of smoke from the Station fire.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Sheriff’’s deputy Patricia Lemberger orders nonresidents to turn around during a mandatory evacuation as the Station fire approaches homes Friday.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

A U.S. Forest Service firefighter monitors the Station fire as smoke spins behind him on a ridge along Angeles Crest Highway in La Cañada Flintridge.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)