5,200 Homes Under Evacuation Orders As 9-Square-Mile Pilot Fire Spreads

CRESTLINE (CBSLA.com/AP) — New evacuations were ordered Monday in San Bernardino County as the Pilot Fire continued burning near Silverwood Lake.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered Monday afternoon for Arrowhead Lake Road between Hwy 173 and Ranchero Road, and Highway 173 was closed between SR 138 and Arrowhead Road.

Mandatory evacuation orders for Hesperia were also ordered from Santa Fe Avenue on the east to Lake Arrowhead Road, as well as all homes south of Ranchero Road.

A voluntary evacuation order was put in place for the Deer Lodge Park area, as well as for Aleutian Dr., Klondike Dr., Evergreen Dr. & Yukon Dr.

Additional voluntary evacuations were in place from Golf Course road on the east to North Bay Road, along with all homes north of Peninsula to Highway 173.

Large and small animal evacuations were moved to Victorville Fairgrounds at 14800 Seventh St. in Victorville.

About 4,700 homes in the mountain areas were under mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders, and about 500 homes in Hesperia were under mandatory and voluntary evacuations.

A full list of evacuations and road closures is available here.

Smoke plumes could be seen roiling from flaming ridges of the San Bernardino Mountains, with smoke blowing all the way across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas.

Hundreds of firefighters, aided by 16 aircraft, battled flames that spread across 7 square miles on the northern side of the rugged mountain range about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Helicopters sucked loads of water from nearby Silverwood Lake to douse flames leaping across slopes. Air tankers swooped low to paint the dry vegetation with pink fire retardant.

The fire, which erupted for unknown reasons just after noon Sunday, was just 6 percent contained.

Across the Mojave, officials in southern Nevada issued an air quality advisory because of smoke from the fire more than 200 miles away. The Clark County Department of Air Quality said air was unhealthy for sensitive groups, including young children, senior citizens and people with respiratory problems and cardiac disease.

Like some of the state's other fires this summer, the blaze burned near a popular recreation area. But Silverwood Lake's waters had been closed to swimming, fishing and boating since Aug. 4 because of an algae bloom.

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