L.A. fire controlled but landmark park charred

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A wildfire that swept through a landmark Los Angeles park, forcing authorities to evacuate the zoo and a wealthy Hollywood Hills neighborhood, was brought under control on Wednesday by fire crews taking advantage of a break in hot winds.

But with white smoke still drifting over the charred foothills of Griffith Park and temperatures rising above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, firefighters kept a wary eye on the wind as they raced to stamp out remaining hot spots.

Local officials and residents said it was the worst fire in the Hollywood Hills in 50 years and feared it was a sign of things to come as Southern California suffers through its driest spring on record.

"We are facing an incredibly difficult fire season," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told a news conference in the park, urging residents of the nation's second-largest city to clear bone-dry brush from around their homes.

The blaze that began on Tuesday just east of the famed Hollywood sign consumed 817 acres in the nation's largest urban park, home to landmarks like the Griffith Observatory and the Greek Theater.

Fire officials hoped for full containment by Thursday.

Authorities who initially suspected arson now believe it may have started by accident. Investigators were questioning a man who walked out of the brush with burns on his chest, saying he had fallen asleep while smoking a cigarette.

He was hospitalized and cited for smoking in the park but had not been charged with starting the fire, officials said. No other injuries were reported.

'UNBELIEVABLY SAD'

Some of the 300 people who were evacuated returned on Wednesday morning. Overnight, firefighters had entered homes with hoses to douse the brush from the balconies that look out onto the park's steep terrain.

"It just honestly makes us want to cry. Its so unbelievably sad," resident Martha Chowning said of the blackened moonscape that was formerly wooded park and popular hiking trails. "This is our backyard."

Chowning and her husband, TV writer Jonathan Groff, were asked by police to evacuate on Tuesday but stayed behind after firefighters beat back the flames.

Before sunrise, flames were visible on the ridge behind the Observatory, where scenes from the James Dean classic "Rebel Without a Cause" were filmed in 1955. The normally bustling observatory and its stone memorial to Dean, who died in a California car crash that same year, were deserted.

Although the zoo on the edge of the park evacuated visitors and staff on Tuesday afternoon, the animals remained inside with their caretakers.

With little rain falling so far this year, the hills of Southern California are likely to see more fires. Humidity at Griffith Park on Wednesday was a very low 2 percent. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order on Wednesday to mobilize more personnel and equipment to respond to wildfires.