Investigators Seek Clues to Arsonist Suspected in Series of Sun Valley Fires

Arson investigators were interviewing residents of a Sun Valley neighborhood Sunday, seeking information on the person who may have set three brush fires on three successive days in the narrow residential canyon at the end of Roscoe Boulevard.

The worst of those fires burned 175 acres in three hours Sunday. Winds of about 10 m.p.h. moved the fire across a ridge into La Tuna Canyon, where firefighters put it out about 7 p.m. near La Tuna Canyon Road.

No Injuries Reported

Thirty-six Los Angeles city engine companies and six helicopters fought the fire, assisted by county firefighters and crews from county detention camps, Fire Department spokesman Greg Acevedo said.

No injuries were reported, and no houses were burned.

Acevedo said there were no suspects, but that arson investigators had determined the cause of Sunday’s fire to be incendiary.

Interviews with residents continued Sunday evening, he said.

Same person suspected

Firefighters suspected that the same person was responsible for fires farther down the canyon that burned five acres Friday and 25 acres Saturday.

“Three fires in three days,” said Assistant Chief Bill Morsch, who guided the firefighting effort from a command post at Glenoaks and Roscoe boulevards. “It’s a pretty good assumption that it was set.”

Residents said firefighters asked for information at some homes in the 9900 block of Roscoe Boulevard Sunday morning.

‘Believed it Was Arson’

“The firemen knocked on our door this morning and told us they believed it was arson,” said Kathy Ewing, who lives about a dozen doors from the end of Roscoe Boulevard, where Sunday’s fire was apparently set.

Ewing said the neighborhood has experienced a previous bout of arson in 1974.

Sunday afternoon, residents of the canyon watched calmly as firefighters carried hoses along steep trails behind the houses and camp crews marched along the ridges with shovels and hoes to put out the fire.

Wind soon carried the flames north into the hills and away from the homes.

Protecting Homes

Meanwhile, about 100 sightseers waited for the fire to emerge from a small canyon on La Tuna Canyon Road. They saw little but smoke.

Firefighters pressed along dirt roads to protect several homes inside the canyon, while helicopters dropped water on hot spots.

Several large piles of uncovered refuse caught fire and burned into ash.

By late afternoon, firefighters had turned their hoses to unburned brush to keep the fire from cresting the last hill before La Tuna Canyon Road.