Firefighters quickly doused a brush fire in Newhall on Thursday night but law enforcement officials soon responded to a second fire nearby and treated the incident as potential arson.
While Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials were not immediately available to comment on the fires, units on the scene said that the Los Angeles County Fire Department and other responding agencies treated this as a single incident with two different fires started.
They could not confirm acreage of either of the two fires as of 11 p.m. but fire officials reported forward progress stopped on a 1.5-acre blaze, the initial one reported around 9:39 p.m. on the 23600 block of Newhall Avenue near Valle Del Ordo, according to Supervisor Michael Pittman.
“We have a 1-acre (fire), light-to-medium brush at the top of the hillside,” Supervisor Michael Pittman, with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said as fire personnel responded.
Forward progress was stopped at around 10:02 p.m. for that fire, according Supervisor Melinda Choi.
The second fire was reported in the 2300 block of Newhall Avenue within minutes after firefighters stopped forward progress on the first one.
Angel Enriquez, a 5th-grade student and Newhall resident, was among the residents who saw one of the fires break out.
“We went inside and then 10 minutes later we heard sirens so we just went outside and looked and it was a huge fire. (I) felt scared; I started packing my bags,” he said.
Other witnesses nearby said they noticed a green Jeep in nearby mountain areas just before the fires started.
Law enforcement officials remained in the area to conduct an investigation.
Staff Writer Caleb Lunetta contributed to this report. This is a breaking news story and additional information will be released as soon as it becomes available.
