O.C. Blazes Blamed on Fireworks

Illegal fireworks were blamed Wednesday for starting two brush fires in Orange County, including one that burned more than 1,000 acres of Chino Hills State Park and was headed toward populated areas near the border with San Bernardino County.

The fire, one of several in the Southland since Tuesday, was 30% contained by late evening and posed no immediate threat to structures, fire officials said. The blaze was, however, moving north toward populated areas in Sleepy Hollow and Carbon Canyon.

Wednesday afternoon’s 90degree heat and 15-mph winds accelerated the fire on the north end near Gilman Peak and Soquel Canyon, said Doug Lannon, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“It’s giving [firefighters] some work, but [today] it’ll be a little bit cooler and hopefully a little less active.”

No homes were evacuated as of Wednesday evening, Lannon said, but if the fire continues to spread north, evacuations may be ordered.

The fire began about 2 p.m. Tuesday near Little Canyon Lane and Fairmont Boulevard in Yorba Linda. Investigators found debris from illegal fireworks in the area, officials said.

The professional-grade devices are used in pyrotechnics and can be purchased in Mexico and Nevada, Lannon said, but are illegal in California.

“They were dangerous fireworks,” he said, “the kind that explode or shoot up in the air.”

Authorities are searching for three boys seen running from the scene shortly before the fire spread. “Right now they want to talk to them as witnesses, not necessarily as suspects.”

Meanwhile, the Barton Flats fire in the San Bernardino National Forest that burned 68 acres and forced the evacuation of more than a dozen summer camps Tuesday was 76% contained by Wednesday night, fire officials said. Full containment and the lifting of the evacuation were expected by 6 a.m. today.

Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, but no structures were damaged, said Kim Boss, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service. Eleven fire engines, eight ground crews, one bulldozer, two helicopters, five air tankers and three water tenders battled the fire, which forced the closure for a short time of Highway 38 from Angelus Oaks to Lake Williams, Boss said.

As firefighters in San Bernardino and Orange counties continued to battle the two wildfires, their counterparts in northern Los Angeles County gained the upper hand against the largest of the blazes that began Tuesday.

Aided by cooling night temperatures, firefighters mopped up a 1,200-acre blaze Wednesday morning threatening homes at the south edge of Palmdale. “It could have been much worse,” said L.A. County Fire Department Inspector John Mancha. “Winds like that can push a fire quickly out of control.”

Underscoring the busy start to the fire season, several other blazes dotted the region with smoke.

About 100 firefighters snuffed out a second wildfire in northern Los Angeles County that broke out about noon Wednesday and blackened five acres between Pyramid Lake and the Golden State Freeway. Crews extinguished the flames in just over an hour.

Firefighters in northern San Diego County took about 24 hours to put out a brush fire in the Palomar Mountain area that had charred 70 acres since Tuesday afternoon. And in Laguna Hills, firefighters quickly contained a 2 1/2 -acre brush fire, which they also attributed to illegal fireworks. Two juveniles were detained for questioning, they said. .

Except for the Orange County fires, the causes of the fires were still under investigation.

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Times staff writers Claire Luna, Claudia Zequeira, Susana Enriquez, David Haldane and Daniel Yi contributed to this report.