Fire peril will shut parts of SB National Forest on Monday
By Staff and wire reports

Saturday, July 24, 2004 - Extreme fire danger has sparked authorities to close portions of the San Bernardino National Forest beginning Monday.

The closures will be in the lower elevations, where dry brush creates the greatest hazards, said forest spokeswoman Ruth Wenstrom. No evacuations are planned at this time, but only residents and emergency personnel will be allowed in the closed regions.

Wenstrom emphasized that the mountain resort communities, such as Big Bear Lake, will remain open at this time. However, throughout the national forest, conditions will be elevated from ``high'' to ``very high'' because of unprecedented numbers of drought- and bark beetle-killed trees.

``We are not closing the entire forest by any means,'' Wenstrom said. ``We're going to do some complete closures in lower-elevation areas, pretty much brush areas where things dry out more quickly, and due to extremely steep terrain fire will run up into communities very quickly.''

Asked if any particular mountain communities were of greatest concern, Wenstrom answered, ``All of them.''..............................................