Firefighters make progress battling 50-acre Azusa brush fire
Firefighters were being aided Monday night by light winds and repeated helicopter assaults as they made progress battling a brush fire above Azusa.
The blaze was holding at about 50 acres after breaking out Monday evening on the north side of California 39 in San Gabriel Canyon, the U.S. Forest Service said. The fire was 5% contained.
A Forest Service helicopter and another one from the Los Angeles County Fire Department were making repeated drops on the fire as crews on the ground cut containment lines and knocked down hot spots, fire officials said.
As flames came close to a housing development along California 39, voluntary evacuation orders were issued for residents on Foxtail and Poppyglen courts, the Azusa Police Department said.
Angeles National Forest spokesman Nathan Judy told The Times that crews were taking advantage of light winds as they made progress in stopping the blaze, which broke out about 6 p.m.
“It’s looking really good right now,” Judy said.
He said crews on the ground were working hot spots along the fire flanks and that the blaze was not very active Monday night. A hand crew had been taken by helicopter to the top of a ridge and was cutting a containment line ahead of advancing flames.
The fire also forced road closures in the Duarte area, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
Huntington Drive was closed at Encanto Parkway, and residential streets that intersect with Encanto Parkway north of Huntington Drive into Fish Canyon were also closed, the department said.
The blaze, called the Madre fire, quickly spread from less than an acre as flames raced up a mountainside.
Earlier, a Super Scooper aircraft was making repeated aerial assaults on the flames. The aircraft does not operate at night, officials said.
Thick clouds of smoke could be seen for miles.
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