By Signal Staff
A fast-moving brush fire that broke out on the 34800 block of Bouquet Canyon Road and quickly grew to more than 800 acres on Saturday prompted a second-alarm brush response and evacuation orders from Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel, according to the Watch Duty app.
The fire broke out at approximately 2:34 p.m. and was estimated to initially be at 5 acres burning north at a moderate rate of speed with structures threatened, according to Watch Duty.
As of 4:45 p.m., Bouquet Canyon Road at Vasquez Canyon Road was being closed due to the fire and associated firefighting activities, according to the Watch Duty app.
By 5 p.m. the fire had been mapped at more than 700 acres, according to the Watch Duty app. A half-hour later that had risen to 842 acres.
Due to a wind shift, the fire began to make a push and threatened nearby structures. Evacuation warnings were issued and upgraded to orders for the following zones: LAC-E018, LAC-E031 and LAC-E030.
Additionally, evacuation warnings had been issued for areas around Bouquet Canyon, in all directions relating to the fire. To see the current evacuation zone status for a particular location, go to protect.genasys.com.
Within just a few minutes of its initial report, the fire grew to an estimated 15-20 acres in size, according to Watch Duty, and officials requested to close Bouquet Canyon Road at Spunky Canyon Road and Texas Canyon Road by 2:41 p.m. By 3:30 p.m., the blaze was estimated to have grown to 100 acres.
A second alarm brush response, which increases the firefighting resources sent to respond to the incident, was requested. Among those resources were air tankers, 10 wildland engines, and additional hand crews, according to Watch Duty.
It was reported that engines enroute to battle the blaze were turned around at a gate near Bouquet Canyon Road, but officials with the Angeles National Forest could not immediately be reached to confirm that detail.
A thick cloud of black smoke could be seen within the mountains of the Angeles National Forest, according to live stream images from ALERT California.
The Santa Clarita Valley is under an extreme heat warning up until Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures in Santa Clarita are expected to reach as high as 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is a developing story and more information will be added as it becomes available.
