High schools throughout the San Gabriel Valley, particularly near the foothills, have canceled or postponed games and suspended athletic activities because of the fires that erupted in the area Tuesday night.

The fires forced many schools to close Wednesday, and as of midday there were mandatory evacuations in several cities, including Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia and Sierra Madre.

As the Eaton Fire began Tuesday night in Altadena, the La Salle girls basketball team, which is ranked No. 1 in the San Gabriel Valley, was hosting St. Mary’s Academy. With the game in the second quarter, players and fans were told to evacuate as the fire was rapidly spreading and moving toward Pasadena.

As players and families left the school, they could see the glow of fire above Sierra Madre, near Eaton Canyon, and there was a lot of smoke in the air.

La Salle girls basketball coach Scott Wiard said everyone remained calm as they left the campus Tuesday night.

“I was in charge of getting everybody out,” Wiard said. “It was certainly interesting, and kind of scary at the same time. Within five minutes, we had everybody out of the gym.

“It’s going to be tough for our school and community. We have a lot of families that live in the area and may be impacted.”

La Salle, Maranatha and other private schools in Pasadena closed Wednesday.

The Pasadena Unified School District also closed.

No high school sports were played Wednesday in the Pasadena area, and high school sports could possibly be shut down the rest of the week in areas close to the fires.

The Glendora and Bonita school districts canceled athletic activities Wednesday.

There were also school closures in the La Cañada, Arcadia, El Monte and Azusa districts.

Damien’s boys basketball team was scheduled to host Etiwanda on Wednesday night, but the game was postponed. Damien’s campus was closed Wednesday.

All Baseline League games were postponed Wednesday. The games will played Monday, Jan. 20, Damien athletic director Jeff Grant confirmed.

The Rio Hondo League, which includes South Pasadena, La Cañada, Blair, Monrovia and Temple City, canceled all of its games Wednesday. The league is waiting to see if games can be played later this week.

South Pasadena’s boys basketball team is supposed to play Friday at La Cañada, but Spartans coach Tom Hofman said the game could end up being postponed.

“I don’t know when we’re going to play, to be honest,” Hofman said. “Basically the entire city of La Cañada is evacuated. We can’t do anything until everyone gets home and then you have to see what the situation is. I would just say playing this week doesn’t look too encouraging.”

In a game Tuesday night, the Covina boys basketball team was leading Rowland 50-47 with 38 seconds left when the lights went out in the gym because of a power outage. The severe winds were the likely cause of the outage.

“I call it (the game) suspended, but I honestly have no idea what we’re going to do with 38 seconds left,” Covina coach Nishil Shah said. “I have spoken to both our athletic directors and gave them my input. But I have no idea how this works, it’s above my pay grade. But I assume we will resume (the game) at some point, I just don’t know what the logistics will be like.”

At Arcadia High School Tuesday night, the Apaches boys basketball team was leading Glendale 70-55 when the game was halted with 1:56 to go when the power went out for a second time during the game. Arcadia was awarded the 70-55 victory.