Worker Cutting Brush Accidentally Starts Fire in Hills

A power company worker cutting dried weeds to reduce the risk of fire accidentally set a fire that scorched about 160 acres of brushland near Malibu Lake south of Agoura Hills Thursday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

The fire began about 1:45 p.m. when the blades of a cultivating machine driven by a Southern California Edison Co. worker apparently struck a rock, shooting sparks into the parched brush, Lt. Jack Innes said.

“It is kind of an irony, but that sort of thing has happened before, mainly with bulldozers,” Innes said.

The fire, fueled by winds of 10 to 15 m.p.h., quickly spread through the mountainous area near Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway. No structures were damaged. One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion.

Suspicious Fire in Newhall

In Newhall, meanwhile, a brush fire had charred about 300 acres by Thursday night, narrowly missing a mobile home park, county fire officials said.

That fire, which broke out about 3 p.m. just south of Interstate 5 and Calgrove Boulevard, was of suspicious origin, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Jim Daleo said. The fire started west of the freeway and jumped to the other side of the road when embers were carried by 15-m.p.h. winds, Daleo said.

About 250 firefighters, along with airplanes and helicopters, battled the fire, Daleo said. No buildings were damaged and there were no injuries, he said, but the California Highway Patrol reported that freeway traffic was slowed.

About 150 residents of Crescent Valley Mobile Estate Park, 23500 The Old Road, were evacuated about 3:30 p.m., when flames came within 50 feet of their homes. They were taken to William S. Hart High School in Newhall, where the Red Cross set up a relief center.

‘Scooped Up Grandchildren and Ran’

“I was sleeping at the time, and my daughter just woke me up and shouted, ‘fire, fire,’ ” said Terry Schwartzberg, 55. “It was very frightening. . . . I didn’t even think of taking anything with me. We just scooped up our grandchildren and ran. One of them didn’t even have shoes on, but we didn’t find that out until much later.”

Fire officials said that, at 8 p.m., the fire was 30% contained and that they expected to have it fully contained by midnight.

The fire near Malibu Lake was 70% contained by 8:30 p.m., and fire officials predicted they would have it fully contained this morning.

That fire was fought by about 150 firefighters from 30 companies and by three helicopters that dropped water on hot spots, county Fire Department spokesman Jeff Myers said.

In a third brush fire Thursday, Los Angeles city firefighters worked for an hour before controlling a four-acre blaze in the Sepulveda Pass, just south of Mulholland Drive and east of the San Diego Freeway. Arson is suspected in the 6:15 p.m. fire, officials said.