Southern California fire scorches huge swath of public lands

Southern Californians faced with the loss of lives and homes in a huge wildfire are also grappling with the destruction of a vast swath of public lands that are popular destinations for hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers.

The Woolsey fire has charred more than 83 percent of National Park Service land within the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area, where officials announced Wednesday that all trails were closed.

"We understand that folks are curious about how their favorite park spots fared. We promise to share that ASAP," the park service tweeted, warning that the blaze was still active after burning for nearly a week. At least two people have died as a result of fire that's destroyed more than 500 homes while consuming 152 square miles (394 square kilometers) of brush and timber.

In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, a charred rabbit that survived the fast moving Woolsey wildfire sits still in the Simi Valley Recreation Center and Park in Simi Valley, Calif. The Woolsey fire has charred more than 83 percent of National Park Service land within the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area. Officials announced Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, that all trails were closed. (AP PhotoJason Ryan)

The fire broke out Nov. 8 and quickly became one of the largest and most destructive in state history. It was 52 percent contained. Firefighters have made steady progress this week but warned many hotspots remain.

The massive burn scar encompasses more than 30 square miles (80 square kilometers) within the recreation area that stretches from beaches inland to mountains straddling Los Angeles and Ventura counties. It's the largest urban national park in the nation, with more than 30 million visitors every year.

Cyril Jay-Rayon, 52, watched the news with despair as flames engulfed what he called his "main playground" — a rugged area where he rode his mountain bike a few times a week. It includes the famous Backbone Trail, a 65-mile (104-kilometer) route that offers challenging terrain for bikers and hikers who are rewarded with soaring views of the Pacific Ocean.

n this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, a sign designating the Corral Canyon Park recreation area stands amid landscape charred by the Woolsey fire in Malibu, Calif. Southern Californians faced with the loss of lives and homes in a huge wildfire are also grappling with the destruction of public lands popular with hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. The Woolsey fire has charred more than 83 percent of National Park Service land within the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area. Officials announced Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, that all trails were closed. (AP PhotoReed Saxon)

"It's just devastating. Those trails are my sanity. It's where I ground myself," he said. "I love the city but I also love how easy it is to get out into the wild."

Humans share their recreation areas with wildlife including 13 mountain lions tracked by biologists via GPS collars. Park officials said three of the big cats were unaccounted for — including P-22, who was famously photographed in LA's Griffith Park with the Hollywood sign in the background.

Four monitored bobcats are also believed to have survived, but their habitats have been burned, according to the National Park Service.

This Dec. 13, 2015 photo shows Paramount Ranch, a frontier western town built as a movie set that appeared in countless movies and TV shows, in Agoura Hills in Southern California. It was destroyed in the Woolsey fire. Southern Californians faced with the loss of lives and homes in a huge wildfire are also grappling with the destruction of public lands popular with hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. The Woolsey fire has charred more than 85 percent of National Park Service land within the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area, where officials announced Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 that all trails were closed. (AP PhotoJohn Antczak)

While damage assessments were still being made, officials confirmed that Paramount Ranch's "Western Town," a landmark film location dating back to 1927 that included a jail, hotel and saloon, burned to the ground. The TV shows "Westworld," ''The Mentalist" and "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" were among the many productions that shot there.

Officials took the loss of Western Town especially hard, because it was a unique feature among all the national parks.

"It's so special to share the story of moviemaking that came out of Southern California," said spokeswoman Kate Kuykendall. "We're the only National Park Service site that interprets American film history." She said there's been an outpouring of public support for rebuilding the site.

FILE - This Friday, Nov. 9, 2018 file photo shows Paramount Ranch, a frontier western town built as a movie set that appeared in countless movies and TV shows, after it was decimated by the Woolsey fire in Agoura Hills, Calif. Southern Californians faced with the loss of lives and homes in a huge wildfire are also grappling with the destruction of public lands popular with hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. The Woolsey fire has charred more than 83 percent of National Park Service land within the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area. (AP PhotoMarcio Jose Sanchez, File)

At least three homes of park employees were gutted, Kuykendall said.

The fire also destroyed much of nearby Peter Strauss Ranch, which hosted performances by Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson in the 1950s and more recently was a wedding destination.

Jay-Rayon, 52, said customers at the sports-nutrition store he owns were coming to terms with the fact that it could be months if not longer before they'd be able to ride or hike their favorite wilderness areas again.

In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, a sign near the entrance to the Corral Canyon Park recreation area stands amid a landscape charred by the Woolsey fire in Malibu, Calif. The Woolsey fire has charred more than 83 percent of National Park Service land within the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area. Officials announced Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, that all trails were closed. (AP PhotoReed Saxon)

Also charred was Cheeseboro Canyon, former ranch land that featured trails through rolling grasslands against the backdrop of peaks and canyons. After winter and spring rains, the area is awash in green, but vegetation quickly dries in the persistent sun, fading to yellow and then brown. Grasses and other plants were brittle in the weeks before the fire started.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said he may visit the Woolsey burn area Thursday, if conditions permit.

About 15 percent of the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area is National Park Service land. The remainder is made up of private property, California State Parks and other conservation lands.

In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, a young deer lies where it fell, trying to outrun flames from the Woolsey fire, just 30 yards from the ocean in the Solstice Creek bed below Corral Canyon Park in Malibu, Calif. Southern Californians faced with the loss of lives and homes in a huge wildfire are also grappling with the destruction of public lands popular with hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. The Woolsey fire has charred more than 83 percent of National Park Service land within the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area, where officials announced Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, that all trails were closed. (AP PhotoReed Saxon)

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Associated Press journalist Brian Melley contributed to this report.

In this Friday, Nov. 9, 2018 photo, goats are cared for at The Pierce College Equine Center where evacuees are bringing their large animals after being evacuated from the wildfire in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles. Southern Californians faced with the loss of lives and homes in a huge wildfire are also grappling with the destruction of public lands popular with hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. The Woolsey fire has charred more than 85 percent of National Park Service land within the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area, where officials announced Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 that all trails were closed. (AP PhotoRichard Vogel)

In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 photo, a sign near the entrance to the Corral Canyon Park recreation area stands amid a landscape charred by the Woolsey fire in Malibu, Calif. The Woolsey fire has charred more than 83 percent of National Park Service land within the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreational Area. Officials announced Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, that all trails were closed. (AP PhotoReed Saxon)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)