Los Angeles – A nearly 17,000-acre fire burned through hills and canyons between the western edge of Los Angeles and suburban communities Thursday, threatening homes and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate even as improving weather led officials to express optimism that losses could be limited.
About 3,000 firefighters aided by aircraft attacked flames and protected ridgetop homes along the Los Angeles-Ventura county line, a rugged, brushy landscape west of the San Fernando Valley.
The blaze was 5 percent contained as it burned near the Ventura County communities of Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.
Firefighters also protected structures in Calabasas and Agoura, also west of Los Angeles.
Flames moved generally westward until winds began reversing direction in the afternoon, coming out of the southwest as the normal onshore flow from the Pacific Ocean began to return.
The shift pushed the fire to the north, and authorities were deciding whether it would be necessary to evacuate an area known as Santa Susana Knolls, said Capt. Ray Rodriguez, a Fire Department spokesman.
Numerous homes were evacuated in nine other areas, but authorities had no firm estimate of the number of residents involved. The areas included all of Bell, Box and Woolsey canyons, Lake Manor, Mount Calabasas and parts of Malibu Canyon, Mountain View Estates, Old Agoura and Oak Park.
Confirmed lost were one home and five other structures.
