Access to San Gabriel Canyon closed over holiday weekend
With the Angeles National Forest closed to all visitors, some travelers hoping to spend the weekend hiking and camping in the local mountains have gotten turned away.
Officers with the California Highway Patrol are allowing water tenders to make the trek up State Route 39, but have closed off access to the hills above Azusa to visitors.
Zulma Juarez and her family, their car packed with with camping equipment, learned the hard way.
"Yes, yes. We were planning on camping," she told CBSLA, adding that she and her family would either return home or try to find another spot for camping.
There's currently no access to San Gabriel Canyon because crews continue to work on several brush fires that started in the recent heatwave.
State Route 39 will likely be closed throughout the holiday weekend, typically a very busy route for hikers and campers.
Another visitor to the area, Morena Varcenes said she came to cool off with her family.
"It's hot," she said.
The soaring temps is in fact what has local fire departments on heightened alert. They're expecting lots of people to flock to the local mountains in triple digit temperatures with low humidity, all of which increases fire danger.
"Everybody wants to be out and about and stay cool," firefighter Alex Rodriguez told CBSLA. "Sometimes people get a little too excited and decide to go on these hot day hikes."
Rodriguez spoke to CBSLA at Station 32 in Azusa, where strike teams were deployed ahead of time in case they need to jump on fires right away, but they also expect a spike in heat related illnesses.
"People test the limits of their physical abilities and get stuck out there," Rodriguez said. "We'll respond to some of those emergencies."
First responders said it helps them out when hikers and campers engage in less strenuous activities during the heatwave, because what people sometimes forget is that it's also dangerous for them to come out for calls in such hot weather.
More information about closures can be found here.