Firefighters continue to battle the San Gabriel Canyon Bridge Fire, which continued to spread to some 3,000 acres Monday and remains at 0% containment.
The wildfire was first reported just after 2 p.m. Sunday as a brush fire at East Fork Road near Glendora Mountain Road. Within just a few hours, it rapidly spread from less than 100 acres to about 800, according to officials with Angeles National Forest.
Mandatory evacuation orders were given to the East Fork communities of Camp Williams and River Community just after 7 p.m. Sunday. The evacuation center was designated at the Hacienda Heights Community Center.
On Monday afternoon, officials with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department issued evacuation orders, saying they “are in effect for all residents north of San Antonio Dam up to Mt. Baldy Resort. Please use Mt. Baldy Road to depart the area. Do not use Glendora Ridge Road.”
According to an update issued at 10:48 a.m. Monday, the fire expanded to cover an area of 1,255 acres overnight. The officials said the fire behavior was “extremely active” overnight and crews are working to attack it aggressively.
In an afternoon update by Cal Fire, authorities said the flames had spread to 2,996 acres.
Containment remained at 0% as of the latest update.
The fire moved south overnight to Glendora Mountain Road. and is being held at Shoemaker Road.
“I’ll tell you the worst thing right now is just not having any power,” a Camp Williams resident told KTLA. “We have a lot of elderly people who don’t have generators, so we’re trying to help them as much as we can.”
Officials said the focus of firefighters on Monday is to protect the community of East Fork.
“The San Gabriel Mountains is essentially where the fire is taking place,” a USDA spokesperson said. “It’s very steep, not a lot of accessibility, so we have crews hike in from the bottom to the top.”
The high heat and gusty conditions have added to the challenge of containing the blaze.
Closures include Highway 39, San Gabriel Canyon and East Fork.
No additional details were immediately made available. No injuries or damaged structures were reported.