Hot, dry day brings brush fires to Southern California
Amid triple-digit temperatures in some areas, brush fires scorched hundreds of acres of dry, Southern California terrain this week.
Most recent were a pair of San Fernando Valley area fires, one erupting in Sunland-Tujunga, which burned 10 acres and a second fire that charred at least 25 acres in between Chatsworth and Simi Valley. The blaze had threatened homes on the Ventura County side of the fire, authorities said.
Yet despite the hot, dry weather and the difficulty of maneuvering through rugged terrain, Friday’s moderate wind speeds worked in the favor of fire crews, who were able to stop the forward spread of both fires within several hours of ignition.
With the National Weather Service issuing a heat advisory and forecasting temperatures as hot as 107 degrees in some valley areas, fire crews walked into Friday ready for the worst.
“It’s fire weather. It’s something we consistently prepare for,” said Margaret Stewart, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The intense activity for Los Angeles city fire crews began Thursday when firefighters, by ground and air, aggressively attacked a small 3-acre brush fire that burned in Laurel Canyon, uneasily close to Hollywood Hills homes. The canyon fire was extinguished by that afternoon.
Meanwhile on Friday, U.S. Forest Service fire crews continued battling a fire raging in the Angeles National Forest above Azusa. Sparking near the Morris Dam on Thursday, that fire had burned more than 200 acres by Friday afternoon. Firefighters managed to dig lines around 40% of the fire. There is plenty of fuel in the forest, but so far, the blaze has burned northwest, away from homes.
Further east in Beaumont, flames from a burning RV spread to the grass and swept through 100 acres of brush. The fire had been contained by Thursday evening.
While investigators were still working to determine the cause of all Los Angeles county area fires, authorities took one individual into custody for questioning in relation to the Sunland-Tujunga fire.
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