KEY POINTS:
LOS ANGELES - A wildfire that swept through a landmark Los Angeles park, forcing authorities to evacuate the zoo and a wealthy Hollywood Hills neighbourhood, was brought under control today by fire crews taking advantage of a break in hot winds.
But with white smoke still drifting over the charred foothills of Griffith Park and temperatures rising above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, firefighters kept an eye on the wind as they smothered remaining hot spots.
"The tide is turning in our favour. We're winning the battle against the flames," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told a news conference at dusk on Wednesday, calling the blaze 75 per cent contained.
Local officials and residents said it was the worst fire in the Hollywood Hills in 50 years and feared it was a sign of things to come as Southern California suffers through its driest spring on record.
"We are facing an incredibly difficult fire season," Villaraigosa said, urging residents of the nation's second-largest city to clear brush from around their homes.
The blaze that began on Tuesday just east of the famed Hollywood sign had consumed 817 acres in the nation's largest urban park, home to landmarks like the Griffith Observatory and the Greek Theater.
Authorities who initially suspected arson now believe it may have been accidental. Investigators were questioning a man who walked out of the brush with burns on his chest, saying he had fallen asleep while smoking a cigarette.
He was hospitalized and cited for smoking in the park but had not been charged with starting the fire, officials said. No other injuries were reported.
'Unbelievably sad'
Some of the 300 people who were evacuated returned on Wednesday morning. Overnight, firefighters had entered homes with hoses to douse the brush from the balconies that look out onto the park's steep terrain.
"It just honestly makes us want to cry. Its so unbelievably sad," resident Martha Chowning said of the blackened moonscape that was formerly wooded park and popular hiking trails. "This is our backyard."
Chowning and her husband, TV writer Jonathan Groff, were asked by police to evacuate on Tuesday but stayed behind after firefighters beat back the flames.
Before sunrise, flames were visible on the ridge behind the Observatory, where scenes from the James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause were filmed in 1955 before the screen icon's death in a car crash later that year.
The normally bustling observatory and its stone memorial to Dean were deserted at noon but for a pair of Norwegian tourists who had bypassed police barricades by hiking there through the brush.
Although the zoo on the edge of the park evacuated visitors and staff on yesterday, the animals remained inside with their caretakers.
With little rain falling so far this year, the hills of Southern California are likely to see more fires. Humidity at Griffith Park on Wednesday was a very low 2 per cent. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order to mobilise more personnel and equipment to respond to wildfires.
The fire worsened two of the city's legendary problems -- smog and traffic. A blanket of brown haze covered a swath of the city and its hills, prompting health officials to discourage unnecessary outside activity.
Commuters had a slower-than-usual ride on the web of freeways surrounding Griffith Park, a few miles north of downtown and several exits were closed.
- REUTERS
