Where is Bell Canyon in relation to Topanga? The Los Angeles TV stations are doing a lousy job of putting up any location maps....I've been very confused at various mentions about the fire affecting both the 118 and 101 Freeways, which are several miles apart.
http://www.kcal.com/
KCAL 9
Click on Live Webcast: Fire Watch Coverage
top center of page under FiRe Watch image
Bell Canyon and Topanga are within a couple of miles of one another. Take Valley Circle to the 101, go down one offramp, Tada. Topanga. The fire is in the north part of Bell Canyon. It'll have a ways to go before it hits Topanga providing, of course, Topanga is not ALREADY on fire.
Bell Canyon is at the far west end of the San Fernando Valley. It is a pretty good distance north of the Topanga area, and several miles west of Topanga Canyon Blvd. It is kind of a fire trap, with only one road in and out.
The largest fire began at about 1:30 p.m., just north of the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway in the Chatsworth area. The blaze quickly jumped to the south side of the freeway.
A Los Angeles County Fire Department official said one single-family home burned Wednesday afternoon. Other homes were threatened.
The fire began west of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, said county fire Capt. Mark Savage. The California Highway Patrol shut down part of the freeway in both directions between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Rocky Peak.
The fire scorched more than 30 acres during the first 90 minutes. At 4:30 p.m., fire officials said containment was at 5 percent.
"We get some additional moisture in the evening that will help lay down the fire," said John Mancha of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
At least 500 acres burned as of 5 p.m. The fire grew to 1,200 acres by 9:30 p.m.
Mandatory evacuations were declared in the Box Canyon, Bell Canyon and Woolsie Canyon areas. Residents were brought to area high schools. Three evacuation centers have been set up, officials said.
"I saw the flames about 50 feet from our house," said a resident. "If you're not burned out, the smoke will get you."
As of 3 p.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department was on tactical alert. Officers may not leave after their shifts in case they are needed to help evacuate areas affected by fires.
Winds fueled the blaze, but NBC4 forecaster Fritz Coleman said calm conditions are in Wednesday evening's forecast.
"What we're seeing is a gusty wind that, earlier today, exceeded 50 mph and, in some localized areas, hit 70 mph," Coleman said. "The foothills and mountains of Ventura and L.A. counties got the worst of it. The fire danger will not decrease as rapidly as the winds do."
A firefighter hit by a rock is in good condition, according to Wells.
Wells said the fire did not appear to be related to a blaze that burned earlier Wednesday nearby.
Authorities said another 400-acre blaze was burning in Calimesa. Another fire began at a chicken farm in San Timoteo Canyon. About 90,000 chickens were killed.
A blaze began at about noon near a Moorpark neighborhood. Wind spread embers, causing smaller fires to break out near the main blaze.
The fire started in the 7000 block of Pecan, near Moorpark College. Winds in the area were blowing at about 25 mph.
Dozens of homes were threatened, but crews extinguished the blaze when winds decreased. The fire burned for about two hours.
A pre-dawn brush fire scorched about 100 acres north of Chatsworth early Wednesday, but an aggressive counterattack that included helicopter water drops kept the flames from spreading.
By 8 a.m., the blaze was 100 percent contained, authorities said.
The blaze that began in the 11100 block of North Browns Canyon Road threatened no homes but was regarded as a "major emergency brush fire," said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells.
Some firefighters remained on scene to douse hot spots, authorities said. The cause of the fire was under investigation. No injuries were reported.
More than 100 firefighters were deployed to fight the fire, which was first reported at 3:54 a.m., authorities said.
The city's fire department sent 23 fire companies, and Los Angeles County firefighters contributed to the firefighting effort as well, Wells said. Five water-dropping helicopters were sent to the scene.
The flames were fueled by medium to heavy brush and fanned by winds in the 20-30 mph range, Wells said.
The De Soto Avenue offramps from the eastbound and westbound Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway were closed because of the brusher, said California Highway Patrol Officer John Seumanutafa.
The decision to deploy water-dropping helicopters even before daybreak appeared to reflect a determination to knock down the blaze as quickly as possible. Weather forecasters said daytime conditions would be sunny, warm and windy.
A National Weather Service Wind Advisory was in effect today in mountain regions of Los Angeles County, with forecasters saying they expect winds of between 30 and 40 mph, gusting to more than 60 mph.
A flat bed truck with a jeep on it that was also towing a mobile home caught fire on the southbound Antelope Valley (14) Freeway Tuesday night, sparking a 10-acre brush fire, authorities said.
The vehicle fire occurred on the freeway, about a mile south of San Fernando Road at 7:55 p.m., said Capt. Mark Savage of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Then several explosions in the vehicles -- probably propane gas -- set fires on both sides of the freeway, Savage said.
A quarter-acre fire on the northern side of the freeway was quickly extinguished. However, the 10-acre fire on the south side took the combined forces of about 150 Los Angeles and Los Angeles County firefighters on the ground and in the air a little more than an hour to extinguish, he said.
"We will be here several hours mopping it up tonight," Savage said.
No one was injured and no structures were affected, Savage said.
The southbound freeway was closed for about 45 minutes. Lanes began reopening shortly after 9 p.m.