The Reservoir Fire burns in Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains on Tuesday, where it had burned more than 2,000 acres by mid-Tuesday, officials said. The fire is burning about a mile away from the Fish Fire, and firefighters said the two might combine to form one large fire. Photo courtesy Cal Fire/Facebook
LOS ANGELES, June 21 (UPI) -- Two wildfires in California's San Gabriel mountains are close to combining and forming one large blaze, officials said Tuesday, as hundreds of residents try to get out of the flames' path in the Southern California fire zone.
The two fires, called the Reservoir and Fish fires, are separated only by the narrow Azusa Canyon in the Angeles National Forest. Officials said neither fire is under any containment and they will likely merge at some point Tuesday or Wednesday.
Firefighters, though, are managing the fires as one, called the San Gabriel Complex
Officials said the Reservoir Fire was started by a car crash on Monday and has burned nearly 2,500 acres. The Fish Fire started about an hour later in Duarte, Calif., and has destroyed 3,000 acres.
The fires are only about a mile apart and strong winds in the area could connect the flames soon, officials said.
"It's moving fast," Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Keith Mora said of the Fish Fire, noting that firefighters are working in "extremely dry conditions" and very high temperatures. In Duarte Monday, the mercury reached 109 degrees Fahrenheit.
The blazes are just two of many wildfires presently burning across the Golden State. Another burned 7,500 acres near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego County and forced the mandatory evacuation of the town of Potrero.
The U.S. Forest Service has identified roughly three dozen wildfires burning across eight western states, fueled by triple-digit temperatures, drought conditions and low levels of humidity -- conditions that make fighting flames difficult.
The largest fire in the U.S. Southwest is California's Sherpa fire in the Santa Ynez Mountains of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The U.S. Forest Service said late Monday that fire, which has consumed nearly 8,000 acres, is more than 70 percent contained.
Several hundred residents will be allowed to return to their homes near Albuquerque, N.M., on Wednesday as nearly 1,000 firefighters have brought the week-long Dog Head Fire to 46 percent containment.
Temperatures across the Southwest remained high Tuesday. Record highs were recorded in Phoenix Monday; Las Vegas, Nev., saw 114 degrees; Palm Springs, Calif., hit a record 122 degrees, and in the California desert, Needles and Death Valley both broke records with temperatures of 121 and 126, respectively.
