Firefighters Kept Hopping as Suspicious Blazes Erupt : Dry season: Officials think the high-profile blaze in Sylmar could have set the pattern for the half-dozen or so in the South County and Anaheim Hills.

The prospect of an arsonist and hot, dry weather kept South County firefighters busy Monday as they put out four small brush fires and battled to control a larger blaze that blackened at least 150 acres of brush north of San Clemente.

All of the South County fires and at least two others Sunday in the Anaheim Hills have been listed as suspicious and perhaps the work of one or more arsonists, authorities said. Whether the incidents are related is not known.

“Whenever you get a high-profile fire like the one in Sylmar, these people tend to come out of the woodwork,” said Capt. Dan Young, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Department. “Look at all the sets we have been getting. These guys who start the brush fires are the most dangerous types.”

In Los Angeles, fire blackened 1,000 acres near Sylmar and chased about 100 people from their homes. Firefighters contained it Monday evening. The blaze, which was heavily publicized, was pushed by winds gusting to 40 m.p.h. and spread quickly through the dense, drought-parched brush covering the rolling hillsides and canyons.

Young said fire departments should be particularly concerned if Santa Ana winds develop because fuel moisture has dropped to 7%, more than twice as low as the level considered critical. In addition, more warm temperatures are predicted for today.

The largest of Monday’s fires in the county was centered in hilly, undeveloped country owned by the Arvida Co., a developer. It was reported 80% contained about 5 p.m., but authorities said that crews would work through the night.

About 170 firefighters from three fire departments and the California Department of Forestry were dispatched to the rugged terrain. To aid firefighters, three helicopters and two airplanes bombed the area with water.

“This is just a very hard place to access,” said Kathleen Cha, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fire Department.

The fires began about 9:40 a.m. when brush ignited on a steep hillside below the Chart House restaurant overlooking Dana Point Harbor. Flames rose almost 15 feet along the rugged cliff and burned about a quarter-acre before they were contained.

“I thought something was burning in my kitchen, but then we looked outside and saw the flames,” said Julie Hoson, the Chart House kitchen manager.

Even before county firefighters could mop up that blaze, two other brush fires broke out between 10 a.m. and 10:35 a.m. in shrubbery next to homes a block and a half apart from each other in Shorecliffs. The San Clemente neighborhood is about three miles south of Dana Point Harbor.

While city firefighters battled one blaze, they saw smoke from the other fire, according to Jack Stubbs, a spokesman for the San Clemente Fire Department. “Our engine called it in even before we got the 911 call.”

Both fires were put out before they could cause any damage. Then a third shrubbery fire broke out shortly after noon on East San Juan Street at the south end of San Clemente. That blaze blackened about a quarter-acre next to a home, Stubbs said.

All the fires are under investigation.

“We certainly know it wasn’t lightning,” Stubbs said. “Until there is some blatant conclusive evidence, however, or until someone comes forward, it would be pure speculation to say they are related. But we think we can identify some common patterns.”

Firefighters say the earlier fires and the larger blaze outside San Clemente broke out next to a roadway, which could provide easy access to an arsonist. Young said authorities have received reports that someone in a vehicle might have started the Chart House fire. Arson is hard to rule out, he added, because intense fire-prevention work this season has made such a rash of incidents unlikely.

In Anaheim, authorities are investigating at least two suspicious fires that occurred about 30 minutes apart in the Nohl Ranch area on Sunday. No arrests have been made so far, said Michael Doty, a spokesman for the Anaheim Fire Department.

“These were set from the road intentionally,” Doty said. “Apparently, someone in a passing vehicle used flammable items to light the fires and then fled.”

The first blaze was reported at 3:11 p.m. in the 100 block of South Nohl Canyon Road. It spread from some vegetation to the shake-shingle roof of a nearby house, where it caused an estimated $16,000 in damage.

At about 3:45 p.m., another blaze started a few blocks away at Nohl Ranch and Stage Coach roads. About an acre of brush burned before it was put out in about 15 minutes, firefighters said. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Suspicious Blazes

Officials are investigating five fires that erupted Monday in Dana Point and the San Clemente area and may have been the work of one or more arsonists. At least two other fires of suspicious origin were reported Sunday in Anaheim Hills.

Monday’s Fires 1. 9:40 a.m. 2. 10:09 a.m. 3. 10:35 a.m. 4. Unknown 5. 12:14 p.m.