A brush fire near Schooners on Soledad Canyon Road on Thursday resulted in evacuations of businesses, a closure of Soledad and a halt in Metrolink train service.
The fire was first reported at 2:40 p.m. near the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Commuter Way, according to L.A. County Fire Department officials.
Giovanni Sanchez, a Fire Department spokesman, confirmed that multiple engines had been sent out to the scene.
However, despite the initial quick spread of the blaze, the fire was held to 20 acres, according to Sanchez. Forward progress was stopped at approximately 3:30 p.m.
The flames stretched out along the hillside south of the railroad tracks that run parallel to Soledad Canyon Road. The flames did not jump the tracks or the road and no structures were damaged at the time of this publication.
All businesses in the shopping malls at the 22900 block of Soledad Canyon Road and the 26200 block of Bouquet Canyon Road were evacuated. Augustine Prieto, owner of California Bakery, said he came over as soon as he heard news of the fire. Prieto’s bakery is open 24 hours, but he did not know when the Fire Department would let him open it back up.
“If the smell goes away fast enough, we’ll hopefully open back up,” said Prieto.
Three employees from the AutoZone on Soledad Canyon Road said they were concerned about the fire, but also a little happy they got to leave work early. Steven Jiran, an employee of the store, said they were coincidently talking about a fire that happened around the corner about two months ago, when this one erupted.
“We were literally standing outside throwing out the trash talking about the one that happened like two months ago, and literally, we both turned around and [said] like, ‘Hey, does that look like smoke to you?’ And all of a sudden it just popped up.”
The fire was dubbed the #RailroadIC. The east and west sides of Soledad Canyon Road were shut down as a result of the blaze.
A tweet by Metrolink’s Antelope Valley line indicated that the train tracks between the Santa Clarita and Via Princessa stations were closed due to Fire Department activity.
A second alarm brush response was called for at approximately 2:52 p.m., meaning that 195 personnel, 12 engines and multiple helicopters and Super Scoopers were called to the scene.
“Please expect delays,” read a tweet from MetrolinkAV. “Update to follow.”
Scott Johnson, director of communications for Metrolink, said at 5:24 p.m. Fire Department officials released the tracks and Metrolink service resumed in the AV.
One train was delayed for more than two hours, four trains were affected by the fire, Johnson said. MetrolinkAV service will resume unaffected Friday morning, he added.
The staging area for the responding units was established at the Saugus Speedway.
No structures were reportedly damaged and no injuries were reported as of the publication of this story.
