Thousands wait, watch as Calif resort island burns

LOS ANGELES, May 11 (Reuters) A 4,000-acre (1,600 hectares) wildfire that forced an overnight evacuation of several thousand people from California's Catalina Island was only 10 percent contained today, but the immediate threat to its main town was averted, officials said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a news conference that 3,800 residents and tourists were evacuated by ferry from Catalina, off the coast of southern California.

The cause of the fire, the second in California this week, was unknown, but record drought and high temperatures fueled the blaze.

One house and a handful of outbuildings were destroyed in the fire, which broke out yesterday afternoon. At one point, 30-foot-(9-meter-)high flames threatened the quaint beach town of Avalon and showered residents with ash. But today, fire officials said Avalon was no longer in immediate danger.

''We don't know when it will be contained 100 per cent because it depends on the wind and weather conditions,'' Schwarzenegger said. ''Everyone is working very hard to make sure the people are safe.'' Firefighters and equipment had to be shipped over the 22-mile (35-km) waterway between the Los Angeles coast and Catalina. Navy and Marine personnel were also called in.

Dozens of residents spent the night in shelters on the mainland, watching helplessly as orange flames cast an eerie glow over Avalon's idyllic harbor and its flotilla of boats.

The blaze flared up just as a two-day fire in Los Angeles' Griffith Park was dying out.

The Griffith Park fire charred 817 acres (330 hectares), including several wilderness spots used for movie shoots.

''All my 'Terminator' movies were made right here, and to see these very places where we filmed destroyed is unbelievable and is very hard to take,'' said Schwarzenegger, a former Hollywood action star.

Schwarzenegger pledged state funds to help replant burned areas of Griffith Park, partly to prevent possible landslides of ash and dirt in the traditional rainy season at the end of the year.

Four inches (10 cm) of rain have fallen in the Los Angeles area since July 2006 -- a record low -- making brush and hillsides as dry as tinder.

Reuters HK VP0048