Over 3000 residents and tourists have fled a Pacific island near Los Angeles while firefighters from the mainland began to battle the second major wildfire in Southern California this week, officials said Friday.

 

The fire in Santa Catalina Island, about 50 km south of Los Angeles, was reported about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, before the launch of an armada carrying firefighters and thousands of pounds of equipment from the mainland.

 

The cause of the fire has not been determined.

 

The blaze, which has scorched more than 4,000 acres, was fought on the ground overnight but air strikes with water-dropping helicopters resumed after daybreak, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Ron Haralson.

 

One firefighter was hospitalized for heat exhaustion Thursday, but there were no reports of injuries among residents and tourists.

 

It had destroyed one large commercial storage building, multiple outbuildings and one single-family home in the island as of Thursday night, officials said.

 

Fire officials expected about 500 firefighting personnel to be on hand Friday, along with 10 helicopters and five fixed-wing aircraft.

 

About 3,300 people had been evacuated from the island, most of them visitors, said fire dispatch supervisor Andre Gougis, adding that around 1,700 people remained, excluding firefighters.

 

Among the evacuees were some 45 children from Arizona who traveled to the Southern California island on a science-related trip.

 

The Catalina Island blaze was the second large fire in Southern California this week as the region is experiencing the driest year on record. A two-day fire in Los Angeles' Griffith Park earlier destroyed about a quarter of the 4,212-acre hilly urban refuge before being brought under control Wednesday night.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2007)