Green Valley Fire Contained After Charring 500 Acres

A brush fire that scorched more than 500 acres and briefly threatened 460 houses in the remote community of Green Valley was contained Friday night, and a few separate, smaller fires of suspicious origin were quickly extinguished nearby, the Los Angeles County Fire Department reported.

The largest fire started about 11:30 a.m. near San Francisquito Canyon Road and Spunky Canyon Road, within half a mile of the origin of a fire that burned 2,250 acres and destroyed one home and two barns in June, authorities said. Like the earlier fire, Friday’s blaze was apparently caused by man. Investigators found a book of matches at the spot where the fire started, said Bruce Bundick, U.S. Forest Service spokesman. But the exact cause of the fire remained under investigation, Bundick said.

A firefighter was taken by helicopter to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia after he broke a leg battling the blaze on a steep hillside, Fire Capt. James Jeffries said. There were no other reported injuries.

150 Yards From Houses

No residents were evacuated, although some packed their valuables and left, authorities said. The fire came within 150 yards of several houses.

Ed Sargent, who owns a house on Calle Maleza just north of the fire’s edge, praised firefighters for keeping the flames at a distance.

“I saw the fire coming over the hill from the west,” he said, as the blackened hillside behind him continued to smolder. “I strung out the garden hose, but you don’t really need it when you’ve got so many firefighters to help you.”

The blaze was one of at least five fires--all of suspicious origin--reported in the Santa Clarita Valley area within a four-hour period Friday, Jeffries said. All started near roadsides, he said.

“It sounds like somebody was just driving around and lighting them all,” Jeffries said. “That’s about how long it would take them to get from one to another.” No suspects were in custody Friday evening, he said.

One of the smaller brush fires, which started about 1:20 p.m. near the Antelope Valley Freeway and Escondido Canyon Road south of Agua Dulce, burned less than two acres and was contained in one hour, Jeffries said. Half an hour later, another fire was quickly extinguished after it burned an acre at Avenue S and the Antelope Valley Freeway south of Palmdale, Jeffries said.

Burned 13 Acres

Two additional brush fires--one at Sierra Highway and San Fernando Road and the other on the grounds of a defunct alcoholism rehabilitation center in Santa Clarita--started shortly after 3 p.m. and burned 13 acres, Jeffries said.

Fire Capt. Scott E. Franklin said 450 firefighters battling the Green Valley fire were aided by favorable wind conditions that pushed the fire southeast along the shaded north side of a mountain range and kept it from moving north toward houses.

Franklin said firefighters were especially lucky because drought conditions and the dying of old brush have created an extreme fire hazard in Southern California this summer. Brush moisture content in the area, normally between 75% and 80% at this time of year, is only 60%--the level normal for October, he said.

“We got by the bullet this afternoon,” Franklin said. “We were very concerned we were going to get spot fires across the fire break because the fire column shot so high.”

Times staff writer Steve Padilla contributed to this article.