A brush fire erupted on the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties amid sizzling temperatures Thursday afternoon, prompting evacuation warnings near Lake Piru.
The blaze, dubbed the Grande fire, ignited at 2:20 p.m. south of the 126 Freeway, east of Lake Piru. Despite being located in steep terrain with difficult access, crews from the Ventura and L.A. County fire departments were able to swiftly gain the upper hand, halting forward progress at 30 acres shortly before 4 p.m.
Two fixed-wing airplanes arrived on scene rapidly and dropped flame retardant around the perimeter of the blaze, while three helicopters dropped water from above, according to Ventura County Fire spokesperson Andrew Dowd. More than 100 firefighters were assigned to the incident, working on the ground to attack the conflagration with hose-lines.
“We had a water site that was just minutes from the fire, and so because of that, we had helicopters able to dip and collect water and then return back to the fire with just a few minutes reflex time,” Dowd said. “Those are the kinds of things that really made this fire successful.”
The fire ignited while a wide swath of Southern California is under a heat advisory that will extend until Tuesday, sending regional temperatures into the 90s and triple digits Thursday.
Earlier this week, crews battled small blazes in Montecito Heights, Encino and Sylmar, where a brush fire prompted extended lane closures of the 5 Freeway. On Tuesday, the Volcano fire in Riverside County grew to more than 144 acres and temporarily forced evacuations.
With temperatures forecast to remain toasty in the coming days, fire departments across the region are on high alert for the outbreak of additional blazes and are urging residents in fire-prone areas to sign up for emergency alerts and have an evacuation plan in place.
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