Santa Clarita, California Wildfire Engulfs 870 Acres
Temperatures in Santa Clarita, Los Angeles County, California last weekend reached up to three digits. With humidity dropping and constant gusts of winds blowing, a whopping 870-acre wildlife area was engulfed in flames in no time.
"Conditions are right for a fire to spread," National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Fisher shared. "After that wetter than normal winter we had, we have extra grasses growing and now those grasses have pretty much dried out."
More than 400 firefighters responded to the scene, north of Los Angeles, at 12:45 p.m. The blaze reportedly started from a traffic crash on Sunday afternoon. When a motorist smashed into a tree, it caught fire and its flames easily spread throughout Highway 14 at Placerita Canyon, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department states.
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Both sides of the 14 Freeway were closed, resulting in a traffic pileup, but were eventually reopened by Sunday evening.
By 3:10 p.m. the LA Country Sheriff's Department ordered a mandatory evacuation for Disney Ranch, Tenderfoot Trail Road, Running Horse Road, and Placerita Canyon. Residents were asked to evacuate to the Golden Valley High School at 27051 Robert C. Lee Parkway. Livestock evacuations were brought to AV Fairgrounds in Lancaster.
A few structures, including a bridge, from Golden Oak Ranch, the 890-acre filming studio of Disney and ABC studios, was not spared from the blaze. U.S. Forest Service firefighters were able to stop the flames before it could spread to other buildings.
The fire was contained by 57 percent on Monday afternoon.
What was easily one of the year's warmest temperatures has affected some of the firefighters. There were cases of heat-related illnesses as well as a few minor injuries.
This year alone, from Jan. 1 to June 25, over 20,000 acres in California have been scorched by wildfires, CAL FIRE reported.
