Brush Fires

Small brush fires burned in Porter Ranch and Santa Clarita on Sunday, a day after a brush fire charred about 136 acres in Oak Park and Agoura Hills, officials said. There were no injuries reported in either fire, both of which were contained by late Sunday, fire officials said. At about 11 a.m., a fire was reported near Whites Canyon Road and the Golden State Freeway in Santa Clarita.

Firefighters Tuesday continued to battle a rash of brush fires that broke out over the weekend in Ventura, Los Angeles and Riverside counties. A blaze south of Lake Piru was reported 75% contained late Tuesday. The fire was ignited Saturday in Ventura County by a bolt of lightning, spread to western Los Angeles County a day later and had charred a total of 27,000 acres by late Tuesday.

The recent dry weather in San Diego County helped fuel several small brush fires Friday, but all were controlled within hours after starting, authorities said. The California Department of Forestry reported three fires. The worst, near Wildcat Canyon Road one mile north of Willow Road in Lakeside, broke out at 1:10 p.m., spokeswoman Jill Kremensky said.

Two brush fires on Sunday charred about five acres near Veterans Memorial Park in Sylmar and about three acres in the unincorporated area of West Hills, a Los Angeles city Fire Department spokesman said. Neither fire caused any injuries, evacuations, or structural damage, spokesman Alan Barrios said. The Sylmar fire was reported about 4:30 p.m. and contained in less than an hour, Barrios said. A dozen fire trucks and three water-bearing helicopters responded to the fire.

Whipped by unrelenting winds and dry weather, the worst brush fires in 50 years burned out of control today across southeastern Australia. Fires ringed Sydney, the country's largest city. More than 120 fires, most of them blamed on arson, were ablaze in New South Wales state. Three people, including two firefighters, have died in the fires, which started shortly before Christmas. Dozens more people have been treated for burns and smoke inhalation.

The electrical storms that crackled through parts of California over the weekend staged pre-dawn and evening return engagements Monday, with more predicted, and left dozens of brush fires in their wake. Officials said lightning caused more than 100 brush fires to hopscotch through eight national forests in the state. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management recorded almost 9,000 separate lightning strikes between Bishop and the Mexican border. Rainfall from the storms ranged from 0.

Two brush fires at opposite ends of Orange County, both believed to have been set, scorched several acres of grassland near occupied structures Thursday, authorities said. In Irvine, illegal use of fireworks blackened about three-fourths of an acre of hilltop near Concordia University, Orange County Fire Department spokeswoman Kathleen Cha said. The fire, which investigators believe was caused by a smoke bomb, was reported at 1:10 p.m., Cha said.

High winds, thunderstorms and lightning strikes over Southern California on Wednesday produced a dazzling display of pyrotechnics, igniting scores of brush fires, knocking out power in scattered locations and seriously injuring one man. Soaring temperatures, accompanied by humidity as high as 84%, pushed electric power usage by Southern California Edison Co. customers to record levels as air conditioners were turned on to escape the sticky heat.