GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) -- A brush fire erupted Monday in a wilderness park surrounded by suburbs, sending a plume of smoke over the Los Angeles area and forcing the evacuation of more than 30 homes.
The fires have scorched more than 20,000 acres, destroyed dozens of homes and disrupted thousands of lives.
The fire just north of downtown Los Angeles in Brand Park quickly spread over 325 acres on the Verdugo Mountains. Thirty-three homes were evacuated along Glendale's border with Burbank.
``What's running this fire is the terrain _ very steep, very heavy fuel. That's what the firefighters are working against,'' said Glendale Fire Department Capt. Thomas Marchant.
About 25 miles east in the San Gabriel Mountains, a wildfire was burning across 19,000 acres in Angeles National Forest. It was 75 percent contained, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Susie Wood.
That blaze is believed to have been started by candles used in an animal sacrifice ritual on Sept. 1. It has destroyed 73 structures, including 50 recreational cabins and some Forest Service buildings.
