Wildfire attacks Hollywood western site

A raging wildfire destroyed several buildings in a desert community where dozens of Hollywood westerns were filmed and threatened other towns early today, forcing 1,000 people to flee.

Winds up to 20mph fanned the fire across 6,000 acres said Doug Lannon, a battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry.

The fire had originally started during a series of lightning-sparked blazes yesterday. It was brought under control, but erupted again.

The blaze burned through California’s historic Pioneertown and television news footage showed several structures burned to the ground. About 200 homes were threatened, said forestry Captain Debbie Chapman.

About 600 firefighters aided by six helicopters and six air tankers were working to control the blaze, which prompted mandatory evacuations of California’s Pioneertown, Rimrock, Gamma Gulch, Pipes Canyon and Bowden Flats.

Pioneertown, about two hours east of Los Angeles, was host to Roy Rogers, Russ “Lucky” Hayden and other Hollywood cowboys who helped establish the desert hideaway in 1946. Movie crews nailed together a saloon, hauled up a railroad carriage and sank posts around the “OK Corral”.

Gene Autry filmed Last of The Pony Riders and Indian Territory in Pioneertown. Hayden, of Hopalong Cassidy fame, used it for his Judge Roy Bean TV series, and Cisco Kid producers shot several movies and the TV series there.

By the 1960s, the town had become more of a residential community, although filmmakers began returning a few years ago. Car companies have filmed commercials in Pioneertown in recent years and music videos have also been made there.

Elsewhere in the West, Montana firefighters were trying to control a blaze about 40 miles west of Billings that had destroyed at least one home and four other buildings.

Authorities urged residents in about 120 homes to leave because of the 3,000-acre fire. Five structures were destroyed, officials said. No injuries were reported.

In Nevada, officials said they had gained the upper hand on two lightning-sparked wildfires burning towards the small town of Beatty, near Death Valley National Park.