“Firefighters today are on the line working very hard to improve those containment numbers,” said Sean Ferguson, LACoFD Public Information Officer on Thursday. “However they are battling high temperatures, low relative humidity and at times dusty conditions.”
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Due to accurate infrared mapping flights conducted along the fire’s perimeter, the fire size had been downgraded from an earlier estimate to 640 acres as of Thursday morning, according to Fire officials.
“The day was going normally and then almost instantly, it was chaos,” Smith said. “It first seemed like it was far away, but we soon realized it was very close and travelling at us very quickly. At one point we could see flames on the hills right next to our house.”
A vehicle fire on northbound Highway 14 in Newhall prompted a SigAlert and stalled traffic Thursday morning.
Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel first responded to reports of a solo vehicle on fire shortly after 9:30 a.m., near the Placerita Canyon Road exit, according to Supervisor Leslie Lua.
“There’s a vehicle rolling in the HOV lane,” Lua said of the reports.
Firefighters received additional reports that the blaze had spread to the brush, but once they’d arrived, they reported that the brush was only smoldering, Lua added.
The fire was deemed under control at 9:46 a.m., per fire officials.
A brush fire quickly spread near Towsley Canyon on Tuesday afternoon, with initial reports indicating it had grown by 50 acres within a half-hour.
The call was received by the first responders at 1:27 p.m. on the 24000 block of The Old Road.
“We received a report of flames and smoke coming from an area near Towsley Canyon Park,” said Leslie Lua, a spokeswoman for the Fire Department, at 1:35 p.m.
At 2 p.m., officials on the scene gave their initial report that the fire was 50 acres in size, in medium-to-heavy brush, and was being spread by 30 mph northeast winds, according to Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the Fire Department.
As winds continue to whip through the Santa Clarita Valley, firefighters are battling another brush fire in Canyon Country where structures may be threatened.
Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel responded to reports of a brush fire on the 28100 block of Whites Canyon Road, near Todd Longshore Park, just after 2:30 p.m., according to spokesman Chris Thomas.
“Units just got on (the) scene a few minutes ago,” Thomas said at 2:50 p.m. “(They’re) getting structure protection in place because they do see structures possibly threatened.”
There has not yet been a size up of the blaze, Thomas added.
SCV Sheriff’s Station officials advised residents avoid the area as crews actively work to extinguish the fire, according to a social media post.
The department s weekly positivity rate was at 18% in December. That rate is now at 5.6%.
The fire department s Emergency Medical Services Bureau coordinated its first vaccination clinics countywide in late December, administering more than 3,000 vaccines. As expected, the vaccine began to have its impact seven to ten days after the first vaccines were given, said L.A. County Fire Department Medical Director Dr. Clayton Kazan stated. As the County continues to surge, new cases among Department personnel began dropping precipitously as did our test positivity rate. This is the first time in the entire pandemic that our data diverged from that of the County.