Despite a night of high winds, firefighters managed to increase containment overnight on the Towsley Fire, which has burned across 167 acres in Newhall.
As of Wednesday morning, the blaze was 17% contained and no structures were reportedly threatened, nor were there any injuries, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Franklin Lopez.
Overnight, county firefighters continued their work to contain the blaze with the help of several partners including CalFire, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara fire departments. Crews dealt with high winds, steep terrain, falling rocks and debris, according to the county Fire Department.
“Today’s plan is to further increase (the) containment line,” the department stated in a tweet. About 300 firefighters are expected to work on containment, meaning crews will work on digging lines around the perimeter of the fire to help keep it from spreading, but the mountainous terrain can make the job challenging, added county Fire Department spokesman Henry Narvaez.
The Towsley Fire was first reported just before 1:30 p.m. on the 24000 block of The Old Road and had quickly increased to 50 acres in size with the help of 30 mph northeast winds. It remained the only active fire in the Santa Clarita Valley as of Wednesday morning. Tuesday saw a series of additional fires, including a 2-acre fire in Agua Dulce and a 1-acre blaze in Canyon Country, as well as damaging winds and power outages that left thousands of Santa Clarita Valley residents in the dark.
Wednesday was expected to be another windy day in the SCV, with winds between 25 to 30 mph and gusts up to 45 mph, according to the National Weather Service. A wind advisory it had issued is set to expire Wednesday at 6 p.m.
