Porter Ranch Residents Breathe Easier After Fire

As thankful residents baked treats and their children drew pictures for the firefighters they credited with saving their homes, crews Monday stamped out the remaining hot spots of Sunday’s wind-driven blaze in the northwest San Fernando Valley that consumed 470 acres but no buildings.

Blackened hillsides and a still detectable scent marked the course of the blaze, which broke out about 11 a.m. near Limekiln Canyon Road and Horse Flats fire road in the Porter Ranch area.

The fire spread west across the hillsides of the Santa Susana Mountains, as winds blew about 35 mph with gusts to about 50 mph, fire officials said.

There were no injuries or evacuations. Crews contained the fire by 5 p.m.

On Monday morning, infrared equipment detected a few hot spots in the hillsides, but a water-carrying helicopter and ground crews worked to extinguish them and clear away remaining brush. “By [Tuesday] evening, we shouldn’t need anybody on this fire at all,” said Chief Glenn Mutch of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Officials ruled out arson and said a bird or animal might have come into contact with high-voltage electrical wires in the area, Mutch said.

Residents who had feared for their safety were relieved. “Luckily for us, none of the houses burned,” said Elaine Woo, 50, who lives on Eagle Ridge Lane in the gated community of Park at Porter Ranch. “I don’t think there’ll be a brush fire in a while because [the hills] are black, and I don’t think it can burn any more.”

The flames came too close for comfort for Joy Sweeney--within 20 feet of her corner house on High Glen Way.

“I saw [the fire] way, way up there,” she said, pointing to the hilltop. “The next thing we know, it was out the window.”

Sweeney, who has lived with her husband and four children in the gated Porter Ranch community since 1992, said firefighters lined the side of her home to fight the fire.

“I’m baking cookies for the firefighters; that’s my project for the day,” she said. “We’re so grateful, they were so good to us.”

Gwenn Ratoviz, 38, packed some family pictures in a box just in case, though she never evacuated her Park at Porter Ranch home.

“I told my kids when we go home today, to draw pictures and write thank-you cards for the firefighters,” she said.

Although residents felt a sense of relief, the still gusting wind left some residents on edge.

According to weather forecasts, windy and dry conditions were expected to ease. Humidity was predicted to rise Tuesday from 10-20% to 30-40%, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

Although fire season for Los Angeles County is considered to last between May and late October, the county has had fires as late as December and January before, Mutch said.

“It’s all up to the weather,” he said. “As long as we have winds blowing, with low humidity, we have a chance of fires.”