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LOS ANGELES - A fire broke out in the hills above Los Angeles today, not far from the famed Hollywood sign, forcing evacuation of the city's largest park and zoo and snarling traffic on a major freeway.
The blaze was fanned by unseasonably high temperatures and hot Santa Ana winds.
The fire was centred in hilly Griffith Park, home of the Los Angeles Zoo and Griffith Observatory, where scenes from James Dean's classic movie Rebel Without a Cause were filmed in the 1950s.
The flames were about one-quarter contained by dusk, when dying winds and cooler temperatures were expected to help firefighters make further headway.
Authorities evacuated people from the park, adjacent golf courses, a museum and the zoo, which had a total of nearly 1,300 visitors today. There were no reports of injury.
"Our public safety officers went through the zoo and told everybody we were evacuating and obviously they were able to see the fire so they were happy to oblige," Zoo spokesman Jason Jacobs said.
Jacobs said much of the zoo's staff was sent home but that the approximately 1,000 animals stayed behind, along with animal care staff and veterinarians.
"The animal care staff is keeping an eye on the fire and on reports from the fire department and will take action if need be," he said.
Fire officials said arson investigators were questioning a man who was seen walking out of the brush near the fire. That person was hospitalized with burn injuries but had not been named a suspect.
Some 160 firefighters, assisted by water-dropping aircraft, attacked the flames as thick black smoke billowed over much of Los Angeles and snarled traffic on the Hollywood Freeway.
The 15-metre-high landmark Hollywood sign, which was built of wood in 1923 as an advertisement for a housing development called Hollywoodland, is now made of steel.
Fire officials have issued a "red flag" warning for much of Southern California, denoting extremely high fire danger.
- REUTERS
