POWAY - Adults who climb aboard the Poway-Midland Railroad in Old Poway Park will pay 50 cents more per ride, due to fare increases that took effect this week.
Approved last month by the City Council, the increases are designed to cover rising costs of operating the historic railroad and the need to put money aside for its future repair and maintenance. Adult fares for riding the train's steam engine, trolley and speeder are now $2.50, $2 and $1.50 per person, respectively.
Children's fares remain unchanged at 50 cents each.
Owned by the city and maintained by the nonprofit Poway-Midland Railroad Volunteers, the train runs on a track that circles the 5-acre park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays, plus some holidays. The train does not operate on the second Sunday of every month.
Old Poway Park is at 14134 Midland Road. Call (858) 486-4063 or visit powaymidlandrr.org for more information.
LOS OLIVOS (AP) - An evacuation order was issued Friday for rural areas near a huge, month-old forest fire in northern Santa Barbara County as weather conditions that had slowed its advance began to change. Smoke from the distant blaze began to stream over coastal cities to the south.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was in the area, declared a state of emergency in the county to free up state resources to fight the fire.
"Now everyone is working together, the federal government, the state, the locals, everyone is working together," he said.
As of Friday morning, the fire had been estimated to have burned 38,000 acres - equal to 60 square miles - and was 70 percent contained. However, fire officials said the fire had grown significantly during the day.
"We got additional wind on it today and the fire started burning more actively midmorning," said Los Padres National Forest spokeswoman Kathy Good. "Now it's headed south-southeast."
Sheriff's and fire authorities ordered an evacuation of an estimated 500 to 800 people including 175 residents, and others who were camping or using recreational facilities in the popular wilderness.
The order covered a community on Paradise Road, the Santa Ynez Road recreational areas, Los Prietos Boys Camp and the Rancho Oso Guest Ranch. The boys camp is a county juvenile facility.
Good said the fire was burning through heavy vegetation, which is "generating a lot of smoke and ash that's extending over to Santa Barbara and Montecito, basically to the coast."
Radio station KCLU-FM reported that one resident described the falling ash as being like a light snowfall. The area is crowded with thousands of visitors for Santa Barbara's annual Old Spanish Days Fiesta.
The evacuation area is about 10 miles northwest of Santa Barbara. The towering Santa Ynez Mountains lie between the wilderness area and the coast.
California Highway Patrol officers closed a three-mile stretch of state Highway 154 over San Marcos Pass in the late afternoon due to poor visibility, said CHP dispatcher Jennifer Bates.
Over the past week, an inversion layer - a layer of warmer air - had trapped cooler air under it during daylight hours and slowed the fire's advance, fire spokesman Jeremy Hamilton said.
However, the low-lying inversion layer lifted to 15,000 feet on Friday, he said.
About 1,000 square miles of forest remained off-limits to visitors.
The blaze was started on July 4 by sparks from equipment repairing a water pipe. To date, the fire has cost about $42.8 million to fight.
Elsewhere in Southern California, a vehicle ignited a brush fire beside Interstate 5, and backed up traffic on the major freeway. It was contained at 25 acres.
