Los Angeles County firefighters quickly doused a 2-acre fire near Soledad Canyon Road in Saugus that officials said had the potential to grow to at least 15 acres and prompted Metrolink to close its Santa Clarita station tracks.
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Firefighters received reports of a vegetation fire around 3:55 p.m. near the corner of Soledad Canyon Road and Commuter Way.
“Approximately 100 firefighters responding to a 1-acre brush fire,” read a Fire Department tweet sent out at 4:07 p.m. “Working with Metrolink to shut down local (railroad) tracks for safety of personnel.”
At around 4:20 p.m. crews battling the fire, dubbed the Soledad Incident, declared forward progress stopped, with no threats to nearby structures or injuries reported, according to Fire Department spokeswoman Leslie Lua.
Fire activity prompted firefighters to work with Metrolink in temporarily closing tracks on the Santa Clarita station on the 22100 block of Soledad Canyon Road.
“AV Line Alert: Tracks are closed at the Santa Clarita Station due to fire on the tracks,” read a Metrolink tweet at around 4 p.m.
While there was no train in the station, the fire, which came within feet of the tracks, resulted in delays for afternoon commuters.
“I just got here maybe 10 or 15 minutes ago, and the Uber driver didn’t see it so we pulled up to the platform there,” said Jeff Herbert, an Acton resident heading home from his job at Western Bagel at 4:25 p.m. “I looked up and go, ‘OK, where is everybody going?’”
Herbert said he imagined it would be a few hours before he would be able to get on a train home, a commute that had already been heavily slowed since the onset of COVID-19.
“I’m not going to spend like $47 to go all the way to Palmdale by Uber,” said Anthony Irineo, an employee at the Wingstop on Soledad Canyon Road.
Irineo added that he thought it would be at least another two hours before he would even start his trip back home.
At 4:13 p.m. Metrolink officials said the AV Line 215, which Herbert and Irineo both planned to get on, would be canceled. Buses, according to Metrolink, had been secured to assist passengers continuing their travel to Lancaster.
The estimated time of arrival for the buses to the Metrolink Station on Commuter Way was 5:15 p.m.
