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US wildfire reaches Interstate 5 near Los Angeles

This is the stable version, checked on 26 July 2009. Template changes await review.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

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A California wildfire has reached Interstate 5, just 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The fire has burned 400 acres of grassland in the Angeles National Forest, and continues to blaze in the Pyramid Lake area.

According to the forest spokeswoman Dee Dechert, the fire is 50 percent contained, but it has damaged Southern California Edison power lines, causing traffic jams. The two right northbound lanes on Interstate 5 had to be shut down, backing up traffic for several miles; they were still closed Tuesday morning. However, no homes or other structures are at risk.

As of 7 pm local time on Tuesday, 500 people, mostly from Los Angeles County Fire Department, were working to contain the fire in heat that exceeded 100 °F (38 °C). According to authorities, four helicopters and six air tankers were also on the scene to control the flames, which are being pushed northeast by a 5 miles (8 km) per hour wind.

The wildfire began around noon on Monday, just northwest of Castaic near the Golden State Freeway. The cause is not currently known, but it is expected to be 100 percent contained by 6 pm on Tuesday.

The only injury reported so far occurred when a firefighter was stung by a bee.

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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
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