201906.09
0

Six Flags Magic Mountain closes early; crews stop progress of ‘Sky fire’ in Santa Clarita

by in News

A 50-acre brush fire in Santa Clarita led to an evacuation, then a shelter-in-place order, for visitors to Six Flags Magic Mountain on Sunday afternoon, causing confusion and frayed nerves for some park-goers.

Both the Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor sections of the park were closed at 4 p.m., about five hours early, to keep visitors away from where Los Angeles County firefighters were continuing to mop up the blaze.

  • Los Angeles County firefighters fight a brush fire burning close to Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor amusement park in Santa Clarita, Sunday, June 9, 2019. Heavy smoke surrounding Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor prompted the park to announce an evacuation shortly after noon Sunday north of Los Angeles. But about 40 minutes later, the park said on its Twitter account that fire officials asked guests to stay at the park while they work to contain the blaze. Police closed access roads to the park off Interstate 5. (AP Photo/Rick McClure)

  • Los Angeles County firefighters fight a brush fire burning close to Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor amusement park in Santa Clarita, Sunday, June 9, 2019. Heavy smoke surrounding Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor prompted the park to announce an evacuation shortly after noon Sunday north of Los Angeles. But about 40 minutes later, the park said on its Twitter account that fire officials asked guests to stay at the park while they work to contain the blaze. Police closed access roads to the park off Interstate 5. (AP Photo/Rick McClure)

  • Sound
    The gallery will resume inseconds

  • A Los Angeles County Fire helicopter drops water on a brush fire burning close to Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor amusement park in Santa Clarita, Sunday, June 9, 2019. Heavy smoke surrounding Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor prompted the park to announce an evacuation shortly after noon Sunday north of Los Angeles. But about 40 minutes later, the park said on its Twitter account that fire officials asked guests to stay at the park while they work to contain the blaze. Police closed access roads to the park off Interstate 5. (AP Photo/Rick McClure)

  • In this Sunday, June 9, 2019, photo provided by Joel Cannon, heavy smoke from a fast-moving brush fire surrounds Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor, in Santa Clarita, Calif. (Joel Cannon via AP)

  • In this photo provided by Arthur Wilkie, people evacuate Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor, Sunday, June 9, 2019, north of Los Angeles, as smoke from a fast-moving brush fire surrounded the area. (Arthur Wilkie via AP)

  • This Sunday, June 9, 2019, photo courtesy of Rachel Gallat, shows the Cafe Plaza when a brush fire first erupted close to Six Flags amusement park in Santa Clarita, Calif. (Rachel Gallat via AP)

  • In this photo provided by Arthur Wilkie, people evacuate Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor, Sunday, June 9, 2019, in Santa Clarita, Calif., north of Los Angeles, as smoke from a fast-moving brush fire surrounded the area. (Arthur Wilkie via AP)

of

Expand

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said about 4 p.m. the fire was 20 percent contained, and that firefighters would work throughout the night to douse any hot spots. It said nine people were transported to a hospital after they were exposed to smoke.

The fire, dubbed the Sky fire by authorities, was sparked at around noon in an area of brush near The Old Road and Skyview Lane, about a half mile from the theme park’s entrance. Information on what may have caused the fire was not immediately available.

By 12:30 p.m., amid smoky conditions at the park, county fire officials ordered visitors to evacuate, according to Sue Carpenter, a Six Flags spokeswoman. Visitors to both Magic Mountain and the Hurricane Harbor water park were told they had to leave.

The fire caused huge plumes of smoke to shoot up in the sky while hundreds of people lined up to get back to their cars. Within an hour, the fire had advanced near the parking lot, sending up a tower of flames.

County fire officials shut down the roads leading to and from the park entrance, and asked visitors to shelter in place, Carpenter said in a written statement.

The Magic Mountain Parkway off-ramp from the 5 Freeway was also closed during the incident, according to the California Highway Patrol.

By around 1:46 p.m., fire officials said the fire’s forward progress had been stopped. About 15 minutes later, Six Flags officials said on Twitter that roads out of the parking lot were reopened and that visitors could leave.

Despite how close the fire appeared, Santa Clarita officials said no structures were threatened Sunday.

Images and videos shared from inside Magic Mountain showed smoke throughout the park. But by around 2 p.m., with the fire threat abated, the park was reopened. By 4 p.m. it had closed for the day.

Carpenter said visitors who left during the evacuation or after the shelter-in-place order was lifted were being offered free tickets to return to the park.

Carpenter said Sunday was the first time the park had ever closed due to a brush fire.

“This is the closest a brush fire has been to the park,” she said.

Arthur Wilkie, a University of California Santa Barbara student visiting the park Sunday with friends, said he noticed signs of a fire almost as soon as his group arrived.

“I was checking my phone as I walked into the park, and then the next thing I knew there were specks of ash falling from the sky and the sky turned yellow,” Wilkie said in a Twitter message.

He said the smoke was thick enough to “obscure the view of the entrance from inside the park.”

“Once people realized what was happening a few short minutes later, there was a massive crowd of people that started to head for the exits,” he said.

But many people were stopped once the county fire department issued the shelter-in-place order. Wilkie said park employees closed the front gates about 10 minutes after visitors were ordered to evacuate, causing confusion.

After county fire officials issued the all clear at 2 p.m., more visitors began to leave, causing long lines of cars trying to exit. But others, like Wilkie, returned to the park to get a few more rides in before the 4 p.m. closing time.

Carpenter said the park would reopen Monday at 10:30 a.m. as normal.

The Sky fire was one of several that broke out across the Los Angeles area Sunday amid “critical fire weather” conditions, according to the National Weather Service, which reported strong wind gusts and temperatures soaring into the 90s.

County fire fighters also responded to a small fire in Castaic not far from Magic Mountain that burned one acre before it was contained. A fire in the hills above Hollywood burned for about an hour before firefighters got it under control, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

To the east, in San Bernardino County, crews extinguished a small fire Sunday morning near the 15 Freeway in Fontana.

View this post on Instagram

Stuck in the parking lot surrounded by fire!!

A post shared by Gabriel Hernandez (@gstang013) on