Fire Destroys Two Buildings, Leaps to Homes

A fire in a Santa Clarita Valley apartment development Friday morning destroyed two buildings under construction and spread to the roofs of 19 houses in a nearby neighborhood, causing serious damage to one house.

Despite hot, dry Santa Ana winds, Los Angeles County firefighters extinguished all the fires within an hour.

Damage to the apartment development, the Sand Canyon Ranch, was estimated at $1 million.

Two firefighters were injured while battling roof fires, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Tom Little said. Both were released after being treated at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Newhall, one for back injuries and scrapes and the other for smoke inhalation and scrapes.

The blaze, apparently caused by a plumber’s torch, broke out about 9:30 a.m. in the framework of a six-unit structure in one corner of a 255-unit development near Sand Canyon and Soledad Canyon roads, Little said. Flames engulfed the framework of an adjacent six-unit structure in the development, owned by G. H. Palmer and Associates of Los Angeles.

Both structures burned to the ground.

High winds spread embers from the fire across Sand Canyon Road, igniting small fires on wooden rooftops in the Sierra Hills housing tract. All but one of those were quickly extinguished with only minor damage, Little said.

Residents said that one roof burst into flames. Little estimated the damage to that house at $35,000.