A quarter-acre fire broke out in Canyon Country on Saturday afternoon and temporarily shut down the Metrolink, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department officials.
According to Bernard Peters, a spokesman for the L.A. County Fire Department, firefighters were dispatched to Via Princessa and Whites Canyon Road at 3:35 p.m. They arrived on the scene at 3:50 p.m.
Upon arrival, firefighters determined the fire to be a quarter-acre in size, according to Peters. The fire was reported to be near the Metrolink train tracks.
Firefighters requested Metrolink to shut down the tracks temporarily as the fire was being put out.
The fire was labeled the “WHITESIC.”
The fire grew to be half-an-acre in size before forward progress was stopped at 3:55 p.m., according to Peters.
No injuries were sustained, and no structures were threatened.
According to Deputy Robert Jensen, spokesman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station, a 36-year-old transient man was taken into custody and arson investigators were called to the scene.
An informant apparently told deputies she saw three suspects run in opposite directions after the fire started.
Once deputies contacted the man, who was hiding in thick brush, he claimed he started the fire to clear the brush around his campsite by burning it, according to Jensen.
The man was cited on Sunday to appear in court at a later date.
