Rash of Lightning-Sparked Brush Fires Is Contained

While firefighters were containing a 160-acre brush fire in Agoura Hills on Wednesday, lightning was suspected of igniting a new crop of smaller blazes in Chatsworth and in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

Inspector Brian Hughes of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said the Agoura Hills fire, which broke out about midday Tuesday, was brought under control by 150 firefighters by Wednesday morning.

Hughes said that firefighters battling the fire were hampered by the area’s mountainous, sandy terrain. He also said one firefighter was treated at the scene for heat exhaustion.

Smaller crews of firefighters spent the rest of the day digging containment lines on Ladyface Mountain, where small pockets of the fire continued to burn, he said. Those blazes, which had been extinguished by Wednesday night, did not endanger any structures, he said.

Fire inspectors suspected arson in the Agoura Hills fire. But firefighters believe that lightning caused the fires in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys and in Chatsworth Park South, Hughes said. The Chatsworth fire covered 10 acres.

Those fires all had been brought under control by Wednesday night. “We have had quite a few lightning strikes,” Hughes said. “They start one- and two-acre fires and keep us running around quite a lot.”

Hughes said lightning even struck the County Fire Department’s dispatch center in the Antelope Valley, knocking out power for a few seconds.