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Duarte Officially Declares a State of ‘Local’ Emergency
Monrovia Weekly Jun 21, 2016
Dr. Alexander Weber, assistant professor of clinical orthopedic surgery, hopes to expand the partnership to other PUSD sports programs in the years to come. - Courtesy Photo / Keck Medicine of USC
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The incident still continues to burn in the hills above Duarte and Azusa with over 5,400 acres consumed and zero percent containment. – Photo by Terry Miller
The City of Duarte has officially declared a State of “Local” Emergency, in response to the Fish and Reservoir Fires, now renamed the San Gabriel Complex Fire. The incident still continues to burn in the hills above Duarte and Azusa with over 5,400 acres consumed and zero percent containment.
Weather concerns continue to plague the situation with both Red Flag and Excessive Heat Warnings in effect. Duarte City Hall phone lines will remain open until 9 p.m. tonight to field calls.
Evacuation orders are still in place for approximately 770 homes in Duarte, north of Royal Oaks Drive, West of Encanto Parkway, and East of Mount Olive. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for areas north of Deerlane Drive, between Greenbank Avenue and Mountain Crest Road, and for residents in the Mount Olive Drive area just northwest of Conata Street, including those residents in the Spinks Canyon Road, Rim Road, Goldenmeadow Drive, High Mesa Drive, and Tall Pine Drive.
No other mandatory evacuations are in place, however, should the winds change, the next wave of mandatory evacuations will affect the neighboring communities of Monrovia, Bradbury, as well as additional areas in Duarte.
LA County Fire is requesting that all affected persons comply with evacuation orders. Please have medications and important documents ready to go. The Sheriff’s Department has 80 personnel deployed to the area to both assist with evacuations and watch homes. Sheriffs will remain in those evacuated areas until orders are lifted. Please note: LA County Fire determines who can return and when, the Sheriff’s Department just enforces the evacuation orders.
LA County Fire and Sheriffs are in a unified command mode and the incident is being attacked with over 610 firefighters, 12 helicopters, nine water tenders, 71 engines, 20 hand crews and 11 heli-tankers. Both fires started within an hour of each other on Tuesday, June 20.
As of now, two firefighters have been injured and no structures have been harmed. Overnight, the fire crept down the hills of Duarte; however, LA County made tremendous progress on east side of the city. The greater threat continues to be the west flank of the city. LA County held the area throughout the night with continuous air water drops.
Many residents who have been evacuated are asking to return home. At this time, the evacuation orders have not been lifted and evacuees are encouraged to continue going to the official Red Cross shelter located at the Duarte Community Center, 1600 Huntington Drive. If any Red Cross Shelter is at capacity, evacuees will be directed to an alternate Red Cross shelter nearby. The Red Cross is fully managing shelters and is making capacity and alternate shelter decisions based on their established protocols. While appreciated, the Red Cross is not at this time accepting donations directly to any shelter.
Evacuees have had questions about residents who left medication at home during the height of the evacuation. Unfortunately, evacuees cannot return to homes to retrieve medication and are encouraged to contact their medical professionals to acquire a refill. To get the latest on evacuation declarations, visit the city’s webpage www.accessduarte.com, follow Social Media (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), and watch local news.
As a result of the fire and related closures, Burrtec Waste services are also affected in the city. The area off Mount Olive north of Royal Oaks is closed off for service today. The area off Las Lomas and Vineyard north of Royal Oaks is open, as of now, and Burrtec is servicing those customers. However, they are finding that a number of customers in areas have not placed barrels out for collection. Wednesday and Thursday service should not be affected as the service areas are below Royal Oaks. Part of Friday service (above Royal Oaks and Fish Canyon) may be affected depending on status of fire in the next few days.
Swim lessons and lap swimming have been cancelled for June 21. Make-up classes are scheduled for this Friday, June 24, at regularly scheduled times. Due to poor air quality conditions, limited supervised park activities will be available during regular hours in parks with air-conditioned facilities only.
For additional information, please contact the City of Duarte at (626) 357-7931 or visit www.accessduarte.com. Follow the City of Duarte on Facebook at facebook.com/duartecommunity; Twitter @CityofDuarte; Instagram @city_of_duarte; and LinkedIn.
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