Evacuations

Elevated sulfur dioxide levels from Kilauea volcano and a change in wind direction forced 2,000 people to evacuate Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. The park was closed, and those at campgrounds and the Kilauea Military Camp, as well as the guests and staff at the 42-room Volcano House hotel, were told to leave, Chief Ranger Talmadge Magno said. The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency also recommended evacuations of five nearby communities. The volcano is venting sulfur dioxide from Halemaumau Crater.

The unstoppable Angeles National Forest fire threatened 10,000 homes Saturday night as it more than tripled in size and chewed through a rapidly widening swath of the Crescenta Valley, where flames closed in on backyards and at least 1,000 homes were ordered evacuated. Sending an ominous plume of smoke above the Los Angeles Basin, the fire was fueled by unrelenting hot weather and dense brush that has not burned in 60 years. It took off Saturday afternoon in all directions, forcing residents out of homes from Big Tujunga Canyon to Pasadena, and reached toward Mt. Wilson.

Charitable organizations providing aid to people evacuated from Southern California wildfires say that their greatest need is for cash gifts to sustain supply lines of food and to maintain counseling and relocation services. Donations of pet food also are being requested. Volunteers who want to help out at emergency shelters should contact agencies such as the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross before showing up at the facilities, officials say. The goal is to ensure proper training, maintain security and distribute staffing where it is most needed.

About a dozen residents of Maurice Avenue on the north end of an island of La Crescenta homes known as Briggs Terrace found themselves in the middle of the street late Saturday, taking stock of their situation. They were surrounded by fire on three sides, and there were no firefighters or law enforcement in sight. Someone asked a question that was on everyone's mind: Is anybody leaving? All shook their heads. The evacuation order had come after nightfall for the Briggs Terrace area, a collection of century-old Craftsman and cabin-style homes, along with newer stucco homes.

Two dozen homes and a medical building were evacuated for about four hours Friday after a man dropped off an unexploded mortar shell at an adjacent Huntington Beach fire station, authorities said. About 10:30 a.m., the man dropped off the World War II-era 81-millimeter mortar round -- still in its original box -- at the fire station at the intersection of Heil Avenue and Springdale Street.

A Boyle Heights gun battle between Los Angeles police officers and a group of drug suspects Thursday left a narcotics detective wounded and a suspect dead. The detective, a 14-year veteran, suffered a non-life-threatening injury to one leg, but escaped a potentially deadly wound to his head when a bullet ricocheted off his helmet, authorities said. The firefight occurred about 3 p.m.

Despite a little firefighting help from Mother Nature and the governor's office, a wind-blown blaze in Butte County spread to more than 8,000 acres Thursday, destroying about 30 homes and forcing more than 9,000 residents in a rural enclave to flee the flames. Fire leaped up canyons toward Paradise, a heavily wooded town of nearly 30,000 residents 15 miles northeast of Chico, despite improving conditions during a day that saw winds in Northern California ease for the first time in three days.

The most famous refugees from last month's earthquake in Sichuan province lounge on their backs chewing long stalks of bamboo. Like bored celebrities, they shrug off the camera flashes on the other side of glass and the endless repetition of "Na'me ke'ai!" -- so cute! The eight young pandas at the Beijing Zoo were evacuated from the Wolong Nature Reserve, the world's largest panda breeding center, after the May 12 earthquake that killed 70,000 people and left about 5 million homeless.

A small sign taped to the glass front door of the town's hardware store still pleads for donations to the victims of the tornado. Less than four weeks ago, a funnel cut down the northern edge of this farming town of nearly 650 people. The wind flung tractors more than a mile, crumbled Civil War tombstones and killed two people. Then, before the white roses had wilted in their cemetery urns, the rest of the town was destroyed -- by a flood.

A fast-moving wildfire that consumed some 6,600 acres rained smoke and ash from the mountains Friday, leaving residents here wondering whether a stiffer breeze would come up to sweep the blaze into their neighborhoods overnight. About 800 firefighters, backed by 10 air tankers and six helicopters, continued their assault on the blaze. Although the evening brought temporary relief, erratic winds known as "sundowners" were expected at up to 20 mph between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.