Bulldozing Homeowner Charges In to Help Halt Fire

Jonny Barnwell stood in the shade of a pepper tree outside his Sun Valley home Monday morning, sipping a cold beer and grinning at the hillside that had turned red with flame an hour earlier.

His face was dusted black by smoke, his hair singed by the heat.

“If you live by the mountains, you’ve got to expect these things,” he remarked. “People really enjoy the ranch life.”

Barnwell, 39, had just cut a swath across a hillside of burning chaparral with his 16-ton bulldozer. Working in tandem with a Los Angeles Fire Department bulldozer, he motored up the steep slope leading away from his ranch-style home, widening a fire break and spreading tons of dirt over the fiery brush.

Surrounded by Fire

At one point, Barnwell said, he was surrounded by fire. City helicopters dropped water to beat back the fire, which cooled him off.

“I got closed in by flames, but I just kept spreading the dirt out as I went and putting the fire out,” he said, plastic goggles hanging from one hand. “You lose your sense of fear when your family and home is in danger.”

Barnwell’s was one of five homes briefly threatened Monday when unpredictable Santa Ana winds pushed a brush fire across the north face of La Tuna Canyon. But the winds, which whipped dangerous fires in the Santa Monica Mountains, were kind to Barnwell and his neighbors.

More than 100 acres were blackened in the area above La Tuna Canyon Road near Wildwood Avenue, but only one minor, fire-related injury was reported and no homes were burned. No evacuations were necessary.

About 100 firefighters, with help from four water-dropping helicopters, put out the blaze at 10:59 a.m., about 1 1/2 hours after it started.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

City Fire Department officials blamed “fluky” Santa Ana winds that gusted up to 35 m.p.h. for fanning the flames, then credited a break in the winds with giving firefighters the pause they needed to knock the fire down. Winds along the canyon floor remained at a safer 10 to 15 m.p.h.

“Had the winds kept up at 35 m.p.h., it would have been a much bigger problem,” said department spokesman Vince Marzo. “We were fortunate this fire was in the morning and not in the afternoon when it gets hot.”

As the unsettling smell of smoke drifted across the middle-class neighborhood, about 20 parents drove and ran to Vinedale Elementary School on La Tuna Canyon Road to remove their children, although the fire never threatened the school.

But the school’s 365 students were kept in classes through the morning while evacuation plans were readied in case the winds shifted, said Principal Ted E. Dederick.

Groups of anxious residents stood along La Tuna Canyon Road and watched the fire while those with homes abutting the hillside, such as Barnwell, sprayed them with garden hoses, hoping that the Santa Ana winds would continue blowing from the northeast and spare the houses.

At Barnwell’s house, family and friends moved 18 horses--Arabians and quarter horses--away from wooden stalls near the burning brush to a training arena below the hill.

75-Year-Old House

Manny Solis, who handles horses for Barnwell, sprayed the 75-year-old house, one of the first ranch homes to be built in the area, and horse stalls as fire crews stood by in case flames reached the house. They crept to within 100 feet of it.

Barnwell drove the bulldozer up the hillside again Monday afternoon to mop up minor flare-ups.

“We’re going to be sitting on the edge of our seats tonight with all the wind blowing,” he said.