Firefighters stretched thin in California

ALPINE, Calif. — Fire officials pleaded for additional manpower to battle a 15,400-acre wildfire near the California-Mexico border, while a new fire ignited near expensive canyon homes in Los Angeles.

Firefighters often labored in triple-digit temperatures as a heat wave continued to bake the state.

The border blaze had burned nearly 24 square miles of brush and chaparral in the Cleveland National Forest in southern San Diego County. About 780 firefighters had contained only about 5 percent of the fire Tuesday as it burned in the largely unpopulated area.

The new fire erupted above Beverly Hills and Bel Air Estates. Los Angeles firefighters working by backyard pools and patios directed streams of water onto smoking slopes, and helicopters made drops on flames in heavy brush on the steep south flank of the eastern Santa Monica Mountains.

"The terrain's so rugged they can't get up there," said resident Mike Kosdon, 34.

Several lightning-sparked wildfires have scorched the state in recent weeks, straining firefighting resources. Firefighters trying to contain the border wildfire were awaiting relief from firefighters and equipment tied up elsewhere.

"We're really strapped right now," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jake Rodriguez. "We're putting in orders for more men and more air support, and we're just waiting for them to be released."

Near Alpine, about 80 homes were evacuated in the community of Carveacre and a voluntary order was issued for about 1,500 homes in the area, said Roxanne Provaznik of the California Department of Forestry.

Fire crews have had to work through 10 straight days of a heat wave that has sent temperatures soaring above 100 degrees through much of the state. At least five firefighters around the state have suffered heat-related illnesses in recent days, officials said.

"If you get behind on drinking water, you can't catch up," said firefighter Jon Sanchioli, 46, who was protecting structures from the forest fire. We had one guy go down yesterday. We know you've got to be careful. If you keep on pushing, your body shuts down."

In Joshua Tree National Park — where another blaze had consumed about 1.5 square miles of dense, desert vegetation — temperatures reached 103 degrees Monday. Fire supervisors asked crews to remove their helmets every hour to make sure they were still sweating, fire spokesman Dennis Cross said.

No sweat, he said, could mean a firefighter had "dried up" — a sign of heat exhaustion.