100-Acre Brush Fire Burning Along Highway 39 Above Azusa

Two fires have erupted in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles amid withering heat.

The flames erupted shortly after 11:15 a.m. along Highway 39 by the Morris Dam after a vehicle went over the side of the road, according to a Los Angeles County Fire Department official.

Initially, it was reported that three houses burned in the brushfire, but the city fire department updated the damage report with two sheds and no houses burned, according to Scott.

Firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Forest Service are helping battle the blaze, assisted by helicopters from County Fire and Orange County fire.

A dam keeper at nearby Morris Dam saw smoke and called 911, Lee said. Another fire has also started in the Foothills above Duarte, which is in a more populated area than the Azusa fire.

That blaze, dubbed the Fire, quickly roared into the foothills, burning north away from homes but threatening some remote horse stables.

That brush fire consumed at least 100 acres in less than an hour and burned rapidly uphill, according Capt. Keith Mora of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. By mid-afternoon, the flames had roared across more than another 1,000 acres.

Battleship Rock Campground and Picnic Area, Jemez Falls Campground and the YMCA Camp Shaver are all structures now threatened.

For what’s now being called the “Fish fire” in Duarte, the Times writes that evacuation orders have been issued for homes near Encanto Parkway and Brookridge Road.

Officials say the second blaze was not caused by the first fire because the distance is too great. Water-dropping helicopters were aiding in the firefight.

The canyon was shut down to traffic, and evacuations were ordered for campers and hikers in the San Gabriel Canyon area. An additional 685 homes were evacuated in Duarte by 7 p.m. Monday, after the city told residents in homes near Valley View and Royal Oaks elementary schools to leave.

A auto crash on Highway 39 sparked the first blaze, which burned hundreds of acres in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa, authorities said.

More than 950 personnel are working to combat the fire, and helicopters and air tankers are dropping retardant.