A SIEGE OF FIRE : Arson Suspected in 4 Brush Fires That Burn More Than 300 Acres

Four brush fires, which authorities suspect were set by an arsonist, erupted in a one-hour period Friday in the Antelope Valley area, burning more than 300 acres before they were controlled.

“It’s like some firebug out there went driving down the road lighting fires,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Martin Shearer.

More than 400 firefighters fought the blazes in the western part of the Antelope Valley and in Acton.

No houses or other structures were damaged.

The largest of the blazes--dubbed the Godde Fire--threatened two single-story ranch houses, but the flames were repelled by firefighters lighting backfires.

The Godde Fire began about 4:30 p.m. at Elizabeth Lake and Godde Hills roads, about six miles west of Palmdale. It consumed about 170 acres of brush in the remote desert area before it was controlled two hours later by more than 200 Los Angeles County and U.S. Forest Service firefighters aided by three helicopters dropping flame retardants.

Less than four miles away, a fire that started at the intersection of Elizabeth Lake Road and 25th Street consumed three acres of brush and destroyed several utility poles, leaving at least one house without power.

About 25 miles west, outside Acton, a fire that began on Soledad Canyon Road consumed another 170 acres of brush, said Los Angeles County Fire Dispatcher Ronald Coffin.

About four miles from that blaze, a fire at Soledad Canyon Road and Langside Avenue burned three acres, Coffin said.

Authorities had not arrested any suspects Friday evening, and had few leads to guide them in their search for the arsonist.

One woman at the Godde Fire told sheriff’s deputies that she saw a group of children playing near the area where that blaze began.

Another citizen reported seeing a man speeding away from the fire area in a car shortly before the fire burned out of control. Deputies who searched the area where the fire began said they found no incendiary device.

County fire dispatchers said they did not know whether incendiary devices had been found at the site of any of the other fires.

Friday’s fires occurred a day after the first anniversary of a fast-moving brush fire that swept over nearly 3,000 acres in the Antelope Valley, destroying one house and two barns in the Lake Elizabeth area.

That fire began at Elizabeth Lake and San Francisquito Canyon roads, just a few miles from where the Godde Fire began Friday.