Hours after mandatory evacuation orders were extended to Mandeville Canyon and parts of the Brentwood and Encino communities, the Palisades fire had yet to reach residential areas as of 2 a.m. Saturday or cause significant property damage, according to Ryan Weddle, the battalion chief of the Monterey Park Fire Department.
Mr. Weddle was sitting in his truck near the top of a ridge on the west side of the canyon. Out his window, he could see the fire streaming down the steep, dry hillside, giving it the look of a volcano.
“It’s a pretty good distance” away, he said, adding that the winds had been light enough for helicopters to continue flying and pouring water and retardant on the fire.
Most residents appeared to have followed the orders to evacuate, but Mark Schlundt, 55, who lives near the top of Cordelia Road, on the west side of the canyon, was not among them. Never mind that electricity had been cut off earlier that evening, or that police officers had approached him about leaving.
“It’s been slowly inching toward us but it isn’t barreling,” he said.
Douglas Hein, 69, and his son Mike, 30, live a few doors away from Mr. Schlundt. They also hung around.
Mike Hein, a software engineer who designs apps for the film industry, said the decision to stay was his father’s. But having grown up there, he said, the idea of leaving was tough.
“I’m not going to sleep,” he said a little after 1 a.m., standing at the top of a footpath with binoculars in hand and the blaze in view. “As long as I can look at it, I’m not worried.”
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