Burning for a thirteenth day, the Bobcat Fire had ripped through more than 60,500 acres in the Angeles National Forest as of Friday.
The fire was very active Thursday on its northern perimeter, where it advanced on Juniper Hills and nearby communities, triggering more evacuation orders and a furious firefighting battle from the air with additional aviation assets called to help.
Crews had the blaze about 15% contained at 60,557 acres by Friday morning — up from 9% the night before. Residents in Juniper Hills, Devils Punchbowl, Paradise Springs have been ordered to flee.
The flames threaten to progress further northwest and northeast Friday, sending firefighters on a mission to keep it south of Pearblossom.
On the west end of the fire, the plan was for crews to build fire lines to protect the area around Chilao.
Firefighters have been working to keep the flames from the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory, which was just a few hundred feet away from the fire. Flames in that area remained active Thursday.