Home Gutted, 3 Damaged by in Blaze in Porter Ranch

A fire gutted a house in the Porter Ranch area Monday, then was quickly spread by hot dry winds to the roofs of three adjacent homes and nearby trees and brush before being controlled, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported.

There were no injuries. The fire caused an estimated $225,000 be in damage to the houses in the 10800 block of Melvin Avenue before being extinguished in about an hour by firefighters on the ground and in water-dropping helicopters, department spokesman Jim Wells said.

Some residents, accustomed to the danger of fire spreading from house to house on the wind-swept hillsides, took to their roofs with hoses or quickly turned on sprinkler systems to guard against the spread of flames.

John Ratcliff, who lives next door to the house where the fire started, said spot fires were started by flying embers on his wood shingle roof but he climbed onto the roof and doused the fires with a hose.

“I was up there putting out the hots spots and the fire kind of went over my house,” he said. “It was definitely a fire storm.”

The fire started inside a house where an elderly woman was at home, but the cause was still under investigation, firefighters said. When the fire broke out about 11:15 a.m. neighbors ran to the house and helped the woman, whose name was unavailable, to safety.