Seeing Smoke in the Valley? Here's Why

A fast-moving brush fire swept through dry vegetation on the east side of the Golden State (5) Freeway in Santa Clarita today, scorching 350 acres, threatening some homes and forcing about 1,000 people to evacuate.

The fire broke out around 1:15 p.m. along the northbound Golden State Freeway near Calgrove Boulevard. The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately known.

The blaze quickly went to a third alarm, and ultimately around 450 firefighters were attacking the blaze, assisted by at least seven water- dropping helicopters and four fixed-wing aircraft.

One firefighter fell while battling the flames and was hospitalized with burns, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department Deputy Chief John Tripp.

Los Angeles city fire crews also responded to assist their county counterparts with structure protection.

The fire was 45 percent contained as of 10 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Evacuation orders for people in about 500 homes were also lifted at 10 p.m., according to the department.

The only structural damage reported was to a garage, with flames spreading into its eaves, Tripp said.

As the flames advanced, about 100 people were evacuated from the Crescent Valley Mobile Estates park on The Old Road in Newhall, another 200 from homes on Wildwood Canyon Road, and eight homes were cleared on Oakbridge Lane, according to the sheriff’s department.

An evacuation center was opened at West Ranch High School in Santa Clarita. An animal evacuation center was set up at Hart Park. Sheriff’s Cmdr. Mike Parker said about 30 horses had been taken to the center.

The northbound Golden State Freeway was temporarily shut down near Gavin Canyon, with traffic diverted to the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway, but two lanes of traffic were later reopened. The California Highway Patrol briefly shut down all southbound lanes, but those were also reopened.

California Institute of the Arts closed its campus in Valencia for the rest of the afternoon due to the fire.

Tripp said five investigators were on the scene trying to determine what caused the fire, which broke out alongside the Golden State Freeway. He also warned that fire season is just getting started.

“We’ve seen the fire activity for the last two weeks,” Tripp said. “This weekend, as the weather people have been telling us, we’re going to get a lot of lightning.

“That lightning could be dry lightning so we could have other ignition sources this weekend. So it’s going to be pretty much every day -- us, you and the public out there, we need to keep our situation awareness up of what’s going on in our neighborhoods and what’s going on in our areas.”

City News Service

Photos: Caltrans, LA County Fire