Firefighters Contain 3 Brush Fires

About 400 firefighters in northern Los Angeles County on Monday battled three brush fires fueled by the unusually dry weather.

A 133-acre blaze in the Angeles National Forest was contained after a two-day battle.

One fire in Santa Clarita and another in Porter Ranch were brought under control in the afternoon, within hours after starting, authorities said.

County firefighters were joined by Los Angeles city and Ventura County crews. They were aided by about half a dozen water-dropping helicopters.

One county firefighter suffered minor injuries in the forest fire, but no one else was hurt and no structures were damaged in the blazes, Fire Department spokesman Michael Brown said.

The forest fire--in an area about 10 miles east of the Golden State Freeway and five miles south of the Antelope Highway--was fast-moving at times, because portions of the area had been untouched by flames for 50 years, Brown said.

Fifty acres of a Santa Clarita hillside near Lake Castaic were burned in a fire that began shortly after noon. Rising on a steep incline, the fire initially moved at a 5-mph pace, Brown said.

Another brush fire that started about 1 p.m. burned about 15 acres in a Porter Ranch subdivision. Because there was little wind, the fire remained in a bowl along the northwest end of the Renaissance housing development near Mason Avenue and Sesnon Boulevard, authorities said.

The causes of the fires have not been determined, but investigators found no signs of arson, Brown said.