Firefighters Keep Blaze From Homes

A grass fire blackened the hillside behind a Burbank neighborhood Wednesday, briefly threatening homes there, fire officials said.

The blaze broke out about 5:30 p.m. in the hills behind Stephen and North Kenneth roads, said Don Weiss, a Burbank Fire Department spokesman.

“I was sitting in my pool when I saw the smoke start rising,” said Jack Rabdau, a nearby resident. “When I came out all I saw was flames up there.”

The fire burned about four acres before firefighters from the Burbank and the Los Angeles city fire departments were able to put it out shortly after 6 p.m., Weiss said.

The Los Angeles firefighters assisted mainly by water-dropping helicopters, said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the department.

There were no injuries and the fire crews had the flames well under control before homes were seriously threatened, authorities said.

The cause of the fire was unknown, authorities said.

Another brush fire, fanned by winds of up to 30 mph, burned about 1,000 acres in the area of Elizabeth Lake, in the mountains between the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

That fire broke out near 13216 Johnson Road about 11:40 a.m., said county fire spokesman Henry Rodriguez. It caused one minor injury to a firefighter but did not threaten homes or businesses.

Some 300 firefighters, four helicopters, two bulldozers and three planes channeled the blaze toward the 40-foot-wide California Aqueduct, which provided an ideal barrier. Rodriguez said the fire partly jumped the barrier, causing a one-acre spot fire on the other side that was quickly extinguished.

“It came up to the aqueduct and wouldn’t burn any farther. Man-made or natural barriers are always an advantage,” he said.

Cardenas is a Times staff writer and Gonzales is a correspondent.