Fire 70% Contained but Continues to Smolder

Los Angeles County firefighters Tuesday laid siege to the core of a day-old brush fire, with helicopters dumping water into deep canyons where the blaze continued to smolder after blackening 1,000 acres.

Late Tuesday, more than 30 hours after a welder’s torch accidentally ignited the parched and barren hillsides north of the San Fernando Valley, the fire was 70% contained and confined to the canyons, officials said.

“The remaining fire is in very deep terrain,” County Fire Inspector Greg Cleveland said. “And you don’t want to put firefighters down in those steep canyons with all that fuel there.”

As of late Tuesday, no homes had been damaged and no serious injuries were reported.

One helicopter from the Los Angeles City Fire Department and four from the county department bombed the blaze with water and fire retardant Tuesday, while about 400 bleary-eyed firefighters, many who began battling the blaze the day before, stood vigil above the canyons, nozzles at the ready.

“As long as we have a really good line around it,” Cleveland said, “we’re not really concerned.”

Later in the day, some of the firefighters were relieved by counterparts from other fire stations.

The blaze Monday had been pushed from Ed Davis Park, just west of Interstate 5, to the Santa Clarita Valley side of the Santa Susana Mountains by winds gusting up to 30 mph. On the San Fernando Valley side of the hills, Porter Ranch residents, reminded of the December 1988 conflagration that swept through their community, kept a wary eye on the approaching smoke plume.

But this blaze was never able to crest the hills to reach Porter Ranch, and Cleveland said firefighters did not think it would make it that far Tuesday night, noting that nighttime winds blow downhill.

Officials said firefighters conceivably could battle the blaze through Thursday, but that it would not threaten homes unless there was an unexpected change in wind patterns.