Freeway Landscape Fire Consumes 1.5 Acres in Porter Ranch
Firefighters prevented flames from reaching homes in the north San Fernando Valley Tuesday afternoon, when a swath of fire erupted in freeway adjacent landscape.
The Los Angeles Fire Department was summoned at 2:46 PM on August 4, 2015 to the westbound lanes of the Ronald Reagan (SR-118) Freeway west of Zelzah Avenue in Porter Ranch, where crews arrived quickly to find several spot fires burning in recently applied landscape mulch alongside the freeway.
With flames soon found in several locations along a half-mile section of the roadway, the California Highway Patrol was requested to close one lane of the freeway as firefighters commenced a ground-based attack on the flames.
Seventy firefighters under the command of Assistant Chief Emile Mack were joined by a trio of LAFD helicopters and a pair of Los Angeles County Fire Department handcrews in skilfully confining the fire to 1.5 acres in less than an hour, with full extinguishment achieved in just 81 minutes.
The well-coordinated ground and air assault spared homes from fire damage and precluded an evacuation. The cause of the non-injury fires remains under active investigation.
Dispatched LAFD Units: E18 E8 E287 E28 BC15 E496 EM15 E103 E90 T88 E288 H0F DC42 T90 E290 WT88 H1 RA18 H5 H3 E70 E275 T75 BC12 AR2 AR23 RT59 HU84 CW3A
