Powerhouse fire containment still days away

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Holly Solberg looks through the debris of her mother’s Lake Hughes home on Newview Road that was destroyed by the Powerhouse fire. Holly and her five siblings were raised in the house that her parents, Dorothy and Howard Solberg, moved into 44 years ago. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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A melted plastic fence looks more like a Cristo sculpture along Elizabeth Lake Road in Elizabeth Lake, where hills were blackened by the fire. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Neighbor Marcy Harms, left, hugs Dorothy Solberg, right, as family and friends look through the debris of Dorothy’s home located in Lake Hughes. The fire has burned thousands of acres of chaparral and dry grasses, some of which hasn’t burned since 1929. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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The remains of a home on Newview Road in Lake Hughes destroyed by the Powerhouse fire. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Holly Solberg looks at the charred remains of her father’s recently restored 1952 Willys Jeep. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters walk down Pine Canyon Road after a day of fighting the Powerhouse blaze just north of Lake Hughes on Monday night. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Joe Biviano, 63, returned to find his home burned to the ground by the Powerhouse fire on Sylvan Drive in Lake Hughes on Monday. “We lived here for 15 years, but lost 40 years of memories,” Biviano said. “This is just stuff. But it still hurts when you don’t have your stuff.” (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A helicopter drops fire retardant on a ridge near Lake Hughes where the Powerhouse fire continued to burn Monday afternoon. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Smoke bellows from the Powerhouse fire on a ridge near Lake Hughes on Monday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A water-dropping helicopter flies past burn areas while refueling to control the Powerhouse fire. (Patrick T. Fallon / For the Los Angeles Times)

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A Cal Fire air tanker makes a drop near the Fairmont Reservoir while working to control the Powerhouse fire. (Patrick T. Fallon / For the Los Angeles Times)

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Resident Ed Mac, with his dogs Brandy and Smirnoff, watches the Powerhouse fire from West 205th and Lancaster Road. (Patrick T. Fallon / For the Los Angeles Times)

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An air tanker drops retardant on a wind-driven flareup of the Powerhouse fire along Johnson Road in Lake Hughes. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A crew stands by to keep the Powerhouse fire from jumping Elizabeth Lake Road in Lake Hughes. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Charred ruins are all that remain at one of the homes on Newview Drive in Lake Hughes destroyed by the Powerhouse fire. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. County sheriff’s deputies rescue a horse that evacuated homeowners left behind as the Powerhouse fire bears down in the background off Elizabeth Lake Road in Lake Hughes. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighter from the Orange County Fire Authority tries to stop the Powerhouse blaze from jumping Elizabeth Lake Road in Lake Hughes. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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The charred interior of a truck can be seen, along with a storage structure that was burned to the ground by the Powerhouse fire in Lake Hughes. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A helicopter puts out a hot spot on the Powerhouse fire at Lake Elizabeth. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Leon Worden, with Santa Clarita TV, takes a picture of fire-related haze over the town of Lake Hughes. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A sign shows gratitude to the firefighters who saved homes from the fire in Lake Hughes. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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The Powerhouse fire continues to burn along Elizabeth Lake Canyon in Lake Elizabeth. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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The Powerhouse fire continues to burn along Elizabeth Lake Canyon in Lake Elizabeth. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A truck was damaged along with a storage structure in the Powerhouse fire in Lake Hughes. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighter finishes hitting a hot spot in an area charred by the Powerhouse fire along Elizabeth Lake Road in Green Valley. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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The sun rises over hills burned by the Powerhouse fire along San Francisquito Canyon Road in Green Valley. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies keep an eye on a plume of smoke from the Powerhouse fire along 160th Street West in Lake Hughes. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighter targets hot spots left by the Powerhouse fire along Elizabeth Lake Road in Green Valley. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A camp crew heads out to fight the Powerhouse fire as it burns along San Francisquito Canyon Road in the Angeles National Forest. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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A tanker helicopter makes a drop as crews work to protect a handful of homes from the Powerhouse fire burning near Castaic. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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A crew from Duarte stands by as a bulldozer cuts a fire line in an effort to slow the progress of the Powerhouse fire near Castaic. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Fire Capt. Gus Munguia watches as a helicopter prepares to drop a load of water on the Powerhouse fire in Green Valley along San Francisquito Canyon Road. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Flames from the Powerhouse fire burn along San Francisquito Road in the Angeles National Forest near Green Valley on Thursday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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The Powerhouse fire burns in steep terrain along San Francisquito Canyon Road in the Angeles National Forest. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Nathan Judy, a U.S. Forest Service fire information officer, talks on a satellite phone as flames from the Powerhouse fire burn along San Francisquito Canyon Road in the Angeles National Forest. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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A helicopter prepares to drop a load of water on the Powerhouse fire that burned hundreds of acres in the Green Valley area Thursday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Flames move toward a cross on a hillside overlooking a religious retreat threatened by the Powerhouse fire near Castaic. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Flames from the Powerhouse fire burn along San Francisquito Road in the Angeles National Forest near Green Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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The Powerhouse fire in Green Valley, as seen from Bouquet Canyon Road. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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The Powerhouse fire burns Thursday in Green Valley near the Bouquet Reservoir. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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David Lewis hikes along Bouquet Canyon Road on Thursday as the Powerhouse fire burns hundreds of acres in the Green Valley area. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

By Christine Mai-Duc

June 2, 2013 10:09 PM PT

The Powerhouse fire continued to threaten hundreds of homes near Lake Hughes on Sunday night as firefighters tried to gain control of the fast-moving and destructive blaze.

The fire had consumed 22,242 acres, and destroyed six homes and damaged nine others. The fire was only 20% contained Sunday night, and firefighters said full containment could be at least a week away.

Crews planned to continue their battle in the dry brush throughout the night, focusing on the northern areas where the flames had spread most rapidly Sunday. They were using bulldozers and hand crews in the effort to expand the containment line.

As night fell, the humidity level rose and the winds started to subside. But they were still blowing at 15 to 20 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph.

Knowing how unpredictable the wind had been throughout the day, fire crews remained vigilant. “As quickly as it died off, it can pick up again,” said Kern County Fire Department spokesman Sean Collins.

On Monday, temperatures in the area are expected to be between 80 and 85 degrees, with 25% to 30% humidity. The winds are expected to be considerably lower in the morning.

The cost of fighting the fire had already reached $2.7 million, Collins said. He added that damage assessment teams were out in the area to see if additional structures or homes had been burned.

More than 1,000 homes in the Lake Hughes and Elizabeth Lake areas were still under evacuation. A Red Cross evacuation center was operating at Marie Kerr Park at 39700 30th Street West in Palmdale. For more information about evacuations, residents can call the Sheriff’s Department in Palmdale at (661) 272-2400.

At the base camp Sunday night, ash-covered trucks dropped off firefighters coming in for a meal and to get some rest. A plume of smoke could be seen rising from the fire.

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