Over 3,000 residents were evacuated near the Hurst Fire in Sylmar, which broke out on West Yarnell Street, behind Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, after 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7. The blaze grew to more than 700 acres by the next morning, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
A steady stream of cars left the Oakridge Mobile Home Park, a community of large manufactured homes on Glenoaks Boulevard in Sylmar. All residents were evacuated on Tuesday night. The Oakridge community was devastated by the Sayre Fire more than 16 years ago, when the wildfire broke out on Nov. 14, 2008, destroying nearly 500 of its 600 homes.
“At this time we’ve had no loss of property at Oakridge,” said LA Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez Wednesday morning. “The fire was encroaching that area, which obviously is very traumatic for our community, but thankfully it has ceded from that area. But … we’re not out of the woods yet, and for that reason that area remains evacuated and firefighters are out there.”
LAFP evacuated residents north of the 210 Freeway. One of the evacuees was Anne (who declined to state her last name), who resides on Wagon Mound Road in the Rancho Cascades community of Sylmar, near Yarnell and Foothill Boulevard, with her husband and their two pets.
Anne spoke with the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol outside the Ritchie Valens Recreation Center in Pacoima, where the American Red Cross is offering services for evacuees. The couple showed up at the center with their cat and dog at 8:30 a.m., after spending a sleepless and worry-filled night in their vehicle.
“At about 10 p.m. or so, we heard the transformer blow up, which is right up the hill, and our lights went out and then police came knocking on the door and said, ‘You have two minutes to evacuate – get out,’” she recalled. However, once they were out the door, her husband was reluctant to seek help from the Red Cross shelter at the park, so they stayed in the car for the next six hours.
After realizing they wouldn’t receive the hoped-for clearance to return home, they finally joined other evacuees at the recreation center. Anne said she’s grateful to finally get some sleep, adding that she hopes all the wildfires will be put out soon and that their home remains safe.
“So now I’m finally gonna try to get a little bit of rest if I can,” she said. “They’ve been super, super nice here [at the evacuation center], and I’m glad they let us bring in our pets because we had nowhere else to go. I have a friend who lives off the 14 Freeway, but we couldn’t get there last night because the 210 was closed because of the fires. Now we wait and see what happens.”
A Red Cross representative at the evacuation center in Pacoima said they set up and started receiving community members shortly after the Hurst Fire started, providing them with food, water and other essentials. By mid-morning on Jan. 8, there were nearly 20 adults on site.
“The American Red Cross is on the ground right now, helping folks deal with evacuations at a number of shelters and evacuation centers,” said Red Cross spokesperson Taylar Sausen. “We’d like to encourage those that are looking to evacuate to listen to your local authorities [and] media for updated emergency information. Don’t wait to evacuate if you feel threatened or unsafe.”
“We are working vigorously to ensure maximum support for firefighting efforts in Los Angeles, including the Hurst Fire, which is now threatening San Fernando and Newhall,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement regarding the local fire.
Evacuation centers are open at: Ritchie Valens Recreation Center at 10736 Laurel Canyon Blvd. in Pacoima; El Camino Real Charter High School at 5440 Valley Circle Blvd. in Woodland Hills; and at Pacific Community Center and Park at 501 S. Pacific Ave. in Glendale.
For the evacuation of large animals, available shelter sites include: Hansen Dam Horse Park at 11127 Orcas Ave. in Lake View Terrace; Los Angeles Equestrian Center at 480 Riverside Dr. in Burbank; and Pierce College Equestrian Center at 6201 Winnetka Ave. in Woodland Hills.
For information about available evacuation centers, go to www.redcross.org/get-help, call 1-800-Red-Cross (1-800-733-2767), or download the app for the American Red Cross.