Wildfires Char Southland Region

A Los Angeles County helicopter drops water on a small section that flared up again Saturday afternoon near the DeBell Municipal Golf Course in Burbank.  (Myung J. Chun / LAT)

Smoke from the Castaway Fire in the hills above the City of Burbank casted a haze through out the City of Glendale.  (Carlos Chavez / LAT)

An inmate hand crew from Trinity County, California, walks over the top of the Verdugo Mountains to cut a fireline around the Castaways Fire.  (David McNew / Getty Images)

Female fire crew members from the of the California Youth Authority work to remove debris from the hillside near Santa Monica.  (Stephen Osman / LAT)

Crystal Curtis 19, puts a bandana over her face before picking up a chainsaw to cut brush and trees on a hillside.Members of the female fire crew out of the California Youth Authority in Camarillo recently cleared brush around homes at the Westridge Tailhead in the hills above Santa Monica.  (Stephen Osman / LAT)

Burbank firefighters Dave Harper, left, and Matt Wagner keep watch as the brush fire creeps up the Verdugo Mountains.  (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)

Smoke from the brush fire hangs in the air in Calabasas.  (Al Seib / LAT)

The brush fire in Oak Park was contained just short of Irene Mellick’s property.  (Carlos Chavez / LAT)

Ventura County official Jim MacDonald looks at a house that was destroyed in the brush fire.  (Carlos Chavez / LAT)

A resident looks at charred mountains in Ventura County.  (Carlos Chavez / LAT)

Woolsey Canyon residents thank firefighters.  (Robert Gauthier / LAT)

Firefighters managed to save this house in Ventura County.  (Al Seib / LAT)

Leanna Pilosof, 8, offers firefighter Larry DeYoung some pizzas. Firefighters worked through the night to save homes in the family’s neighborhood.  (Al Seib / LAT)

Some of the destruction caused by the brush fire in West Hills.  (Al Seib / LAT)

A Los Angeles County firefighter checks the eaves of an apartment complex as trees and brush blaze behind him on Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas.  (Myung J. Chun / LAT)

The Topanga fire burns toward Oak Park on Thursday morning.  (Anne Cusack / LAT)

Nanae Kudo, 15, watches as flames burn behind her neighbors’ home on Thursday afternoon. When flames came over the ridge, firefighters set backfires behind threatend homes.  (Anne Cusack / LAT)

Firefighters keep an eye on flames as they burn a hillside behind homes in Oak Park Thursday.  (Anne Cusack / LAT)

Homes are threatened on Deerbrook Road in Oak Park, where residents had been evacuated.  (Anne Cusack / LAT)

Plumes of smoke rise from a large brush fire at the Los Angeles-Ventura county line near Chatsworth. Homes in Box Canyon and Bell Canyon were threatened by the blaze.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

Plumes of smoke rise from brush fires burning near Chatsworth.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

A house in Box Canyon appears to have escaped destruction as a brush fire burned the surrounding hills.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

A brush fire threatens homes in Bell Canyon as a fire helicopter makes a drop on nearby flames.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

Plumes of smoke rise from a brush fire near Chatsworth as a fire helicopter returns to collect water after making a drop.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

Residents watch flames and firefighters along Deerbrook Road and Lambourne Place in Oak Park, north of Agoura Hills in Ventura County.  (Carlos Chavez / LAT)

Fifty-foot flames rise behind Deerhill Road homes in Oak Park.  (Carlos Chavez / LAT)

The sun rises through smoke near homes on Doubletree Road in Oak Park.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

Flames seen through window of fire truck in Oak Park.  (Carlos Chavez / LAT)

Sunrise in Oak Park, which is north of Agoura Hills.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

Residents and Ventura County firefighters watch fire’s early morning progress on Pala Mesa Drive.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

A brush fire that started in Chatsworth yesterday threatens homes on Pala Mesa Dr. in Oak Park. Ventura County firefighters are standing by to protect the homes that have been evacuated. The fire came down the hill slowly due to calm winds.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

Ventura County firefighter stands on truck in Oak Park.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

Jadelynn Gray, 5, is seen through the opened door window of her mother’s car as the family readies for evacuation from their home on Pala Mesa Drive.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

Flames loom outside a subdivision in Thousand Oaks, Calif..  (Richard Derk / LAT)

Smoke billows from a hillside overlooking Thousand Oaks, Calif..  (Richard Derk / LAT)

Residents on Deerhill Rd. in Oak Park watching the brushfire at 3 a.m. today.  (Lawrence K. Ho / LAT)

A brush fire in overlooks a restaurant in the Santa Susana area of Simi Valley.  (Lawrence K. Ho / LAT)

The L.A. County Fire Department works to protect buildings on Deerhill Rd. in the Oak Park area.  (Lawrence K. Ho / LAT)

Flames burn in the hills surrounding homes in the Sutton Valley neighborhood of Oak Park at the Los Angeles and Ventura County line as a brush fire burns on day two.  (Al Seib / LAT)

San Diego firefighters prepare to use flares to set backfires in the hills surrounding homes in the Sutton Valley neighborhood of Oak Park.  (Al Seib / LAT)

A California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation fire crew marches into the in the hills surrounding homes in the Whitehawk neighborhood in Ventura County.  (Al Seib / LAT)

Fred Casale, left, is helped by his friend Carolyn Preston who came to help move valuables from his family’s home on Remont Circle in the Sutton Valley neighborhood in Oak Park.  (Al Seib / LAT)

Paul Macalus, a resident of the Sutton Valley neighborhood in Oak Park, watches flames near neighboring homes in the early morning.  (Al Seib / LAT)

Firefighters from San Diego watch a helicopter make water drops as flames burn in the hills surrounding homes in Oak Park.  (Al Seib / LAT)

Usha Agarwal, who lives on Golden Sky Circle near Smokey Ridge, watches fearfully as smoke continues to billow from the hills surrounding homes in the Whitehawk neighborhood in Ventura County.  (Al Seib / LAT)

TrayTaylor carries his dog, Lizzie, to the car as a wildfire rages in the hills of Oak Park.  (Al Seib / LAT)

Beth Alkoby carries her dog, Lexie, to the car as flames burn in the hills surrounding homes in the Sutton Valley neighborhood of Oak Park.  (Al Seib / LAT)

Before sunrise, smoke clouds fill the sky east of Thousand Oaks as a brush fire burns in the hills north of Oak Park.  (Al Seib / LAT)

A pair of alpacas in a stable at the Equestrian Education Center at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.  (Richard Hartog / LAT)

Stephanie Haney calms her horse Gummy, which was evacuated from its stable in Chatsworth on Wednesday.  (Richard Hartog / LAT)

Stephanie Haney’s horses Merlin, left, and Gummy are ready to go back home to Chatsworth after being evacuated the night before.  (Richard Hartog / LAT)

L.A. County firefighter John Gonzales tries to keep cool while working on firebreak lines in Chesebro Canyon.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

LA County firefighters move to battle a blaze near Chesebro Canyon.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

A woman protects herself from the smoke in Oak Park.  (Stephen Osman / LAT)

National Park Service technician Joanne Moriarty uses a radio monitor to track a female bobcat and its kitten that were still in the burning hills above the Lang Ranch area of Thousand Oaks.  (Stephen Osman / LAT)

A Ventura County helicopter drops water on the fire raging through the Lang Ranch area in Thousand Oaks.  (Stephen Osman / LAT)

A plane drops fire retardant on the hills behind Lang Ranch in Thousand Oaks.  (Stephen Osman / LAT)

A firefighting helicopter drops water on wildfires burning just south of Forest Falls.  (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)

People wait on Highway 38 for word of when they will be allowed to return to their homes.  (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)