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More
than 1,600 firefighters battled on Monday to contain a fast-spreading
wildfire that has forced hundreds of evacuations in the drought-parched
canyons north of Los Angeles, destroying 18 homes, killing at least one
person and closing a highway.
Authorities
said the Sand Fire had grown to more than 33,000 acres (13,300
hectares) by early Monday, or more than 50 square miles (130 square km),
fueled by high winds and parched conditions after years of drought.
It
was threatening a string of small communities near Santa Clarita, just
outside the Angeles National Forest, the Los Angeles county sheriff’s
department said.
