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CORRECTION: SEE CORRECTION APPENDED; Pine fire -- In Friday's California section, a caption with a photograph of a helicopter dropping fire retardant on a residence threatened by flames said the house was in Lake Hughes. It is in Tweedy Lake.
Hot winds stirred up dust and dying embers along a smoldering ridgeline Thursday afternoon as residents of Three Points, Tweedy Lake and Lake Hughes watched red-brown smoke from the advancing fire and wondered what would happen next.
The Pine fire east of Gorman already had destroyed two homes, charring more than 11,000 acres and continuing to spread. The fate of the three tiny communities on the northern edge of the Angeles National Forest was far from assured.
Three Points and Lake Hughes are essentially just wide spots in the road, a few homes and businesses scattered along a dry, brushy gully that marks the course of the San Andreas fault. The combined population of the two communities is about 500.
Tweedy Lake isn't even a wide spot, because there is no road -- at least not a paved one. It's a small, gated community of about 30 rustic cabins surrounding an isolated pond about a mile east of Three Points.
A sign nailed to a tree tells visitors which wheel tracks to follow to get to the residents' homes.
The fire had appeared to be largely under control Wednesday evening and residents had begun to relax. Then, about 10 p.m., the wind picked up and the fire began to move, spreading north and east and wrapping around Three Points and Tweedy Lake.
As people grabbed what they could and fled, two houses burned in Three Points, a place defined by the only business in town, a little red-shingled restaurant named the Three Point Cafe. A third house in the area burned Thursday.
Three Points resident Tammy Brazil said everyone had gathered in the cafe Monday night, when word first spread about the fire.
Brazil said no one ate anything. "They just sat and watched," she said.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, everyone left.
By Thursday afternoon,...