California Wildfire Kills 2, Thousand Flee

October 13, 2008 9:28 p.m. EST

Los Angeles, CA (AHN) - Two people have died, some 1,200 residents have fled after nearly 40 mobile homes have been destroyed and 9,000 acres of forest were burned by two huge wildfires in San Fernando Valley, California.

A car crash on a ramp of the closed 118 Freeway in Porter Ranch killed a driver Monday noon, Los Angeles County fire Inspector Frank Garrido told ABC News. An unidentified man and his dog were found dead in a makeshift home in Marek.

A 5,000-acre wildfire near Marek destroyed 38 mobile homes on Lopez Canyon Road in the foothills near Lake View Terrace. Residents of Sylmar to the north of El Cariso Golf Course and to the west near Veterans Memorial Park as well as patients from Olive View Medical Center were evacuated, according to officials.

In Porter Ranch, fire seared 3,700 acres and covered 118 Freeway with smoke. Several homes and other structures were also burned near Topanga Canyon Boulevard near the 118 Freeway as the fire moves southwest threatening western San Fernando Valley and eastern Ventura County.