AVALON, Calif. (AP) - It's enough to drive Joe the bartender to drink. Steven W. Bailey, who plays the portly drink-slinger on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, lives near Los Angeles' Griffith Park, which went up in flames earlier this week. To escape the smoke and heat from the fire that blackened more than 800 acres, he and his wife headed for the peace and solitude of idyllic Santa Catalina Island.

''We thought, get away for a little while, get away from all this fire nonsense, go to Catalina, get some fresh air,'' Bailey told KABC-TV.

''We were approaching the island and we see this smoke from pretty far away,'' he added. ''I jokingly said to my wife, I was like, 'That cloud formation over there looks like there is a fire in Catalina.'''

It was a 4,000-acre blaze that erupted Thursday. It dwarfed the size of the one in Griffith Park and forced hundreds of people to evacuate the city of Avalon, where Bailey was headed.

''It just descended into more and more fire, more and more smoke, more and more ash,'' Bailey said.

The actor couldn't immediately be located for comment Friday. KABC-TV reported that the fire prevented Bailey and his wife from checking into their hotel so they were considering returning home by ferry.

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