Southern California Forest Closures Extended Through Sept. 22
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The emergency forest closure order for the Angeles, Cleveland and San Bernardino National Forests has been extended until Sept. 22, Angeles National Forest officials announced Wednesday.
The regional order issued on Aug. 31 closed public access to all national forests in California. It was originally set to run through Sept. 17.
"Due to ongoing high fire danger and active wildfires across the West, the Southern California national forests will remain closed for another week to better provide for public and firefighter safety," forest service officials said.
"Moreover, conditions on the forest have prompted Angeles forest fire managers to increase the fire danger level from Extreme to Critical," officials added.
The closure was announced as an increase in the fire danger continues to threaten national forests.
"Through this order we hope to minimize the likelihood that visitors could become entrapped during an emergency and decrease the potential for new fire starts at a time of extremely limited firefighting resources," the statement said.
As of Wednesday, there were 11 large fires burning on National Forest System lands throughout the state.
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