A pickup truck that broke down and caught fire in the Newhall pass Monday afternoon sparked a roadside fire that began burning brush on the edge of the Angeles National Forest.
The fire was quickly contained to 2 acres as scores of firefighters in more than half a dozen emergency vehicles hit the fire on two flanks.
The incident began at about 2:10 p.m., when a white pickup truck caught fire in the northbound lanes just west of the Newhall Avenue off ramp.
Within 50 minutes, firefighters called off support crews such as the water-dumping helicopter and reported forward advance of the fire had been stopped.
By 3:10 p.m., the fire was 70 percent contained and, by 3:45 p.m., 90 percent contained.
“This came in as a vehicle fire that spread to the brush,” said Scott Elliott, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
“They kept the fire contained on two flanks,” he said, describing it as moving through light to medium bush, going uphill.
“This was a vehicle fire that spread to the brush from a white pickup truck stopped on the shoulder,” Elliott said.
