Fire burns 100 acres
Flames break out near Golden Valley High School; no one was hurt during incident
A brush fire that firefighters had hoped to contain early on in their firefighting efforts swelled suddenly to 100 acres Wednesday afternoon after a shift in the wind.
The fire – dubbed the Golden incident – began shortly after noon Wednesday when flames and smoke were spotted near Golden Valley High School.
Firefighters with the Los Angeles County Fire Department stopped all forward progress of the fire by 1:45 p.m. and, by 3:20 p.m. reported a 90 percent containment.
The initial call went out at 12:09 p.m. for a brush fire near the intersection of intersection of Robert C. Lee Parkway and Golden Valley Road, Fire Department spokeswoman Vanessa Lozano said.
Several firefighting units were dispatched, and within 40 minutes the fire had burned 15 acres.
As officials expressed optimism that they could get a handle on the fire, after an hour the fire was
reported to be moving towards Circle J Ranch and the possibility that at least one structure would be threatened.
“They immediately started dumping water on it,” Lozano said.
At least one water-dumping helicopter and at least two water-dumping Super Scooper aircraft were initially deployed.
Students at Golden Valley High School captured images of the brush fire smoke on cell phones, as school fire alarms continued to sound.
“We’ve been told by fire officials that the fire is going away from the school,” Dave Caldwell, spokesman for the school and the William S. Hart Union High School District told The Signal.
For that reason, no evacuation order was issued for the school, he said.
“Fire officials are on campus,” Caldwell said. “So if they give the word to go, then we’ll go.”
As the wind shifted south firefighting efforts carried out in accordance with the first alarm were stepped up to a second alarm fire, and by mid-afternoon, increased again to a third alarm fire.
About 90 minutes into the firefight, the Golden fire had burned 25 acres as it moved south into the Quigley Open Space, in Newhall.
Shortly after 1:30 p.m., the fire “was upgraded to a third alarm fire,” Lozano said.
The additional units were deployed to an area near Quigley Canyon Road and Cleardale Street.
As more resources were brought to the south side of the fire, officials reported making good progress in battling it. By then it had burned 50 acres.
“They stopped all forward advancement of the fire,” Vanessa Lozano, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department said at 1:45 p.m.
Containment of the fire at that was reported to be 10 percent contained.
Fire officials called for no additional fire engines but requested one water tender help out at on the south end of the Quigley Open Space.