A brush fire, with possible structure threat, broke out on the northbound side of Interstate 5 just south of State Route 138 in Gorman on Thursday afternoon and quickly grew to over 100 acres and prompted evacuation warnings, according to the Watch Duty app.
The fire reportedly broke out at approximately 4:09 p.m. and was estimated to have burned 5 to 10 acres within minutes before it quickly expanded and was mapped out at 141.3 acres with 7% containment as of 6:20 p.m. Thursday.
Due to the fire burning at a moderate rate of spread and traveling northeast headed toward structures, Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel declared the blaze, which was dubbed the Danny Fire, to require a level 2 brush response.
A level 2 brush response requires additional firefighting resources to be dispatched, and according to the PulsePoint app, multiple engines including aerial units and tankers were at the scene battling the blaze.
As of the publication of this story, an evacuation order was issued for zone GOR-E004-A, located on the east side of where the fire initially started.
Evacuation warnings were also issued for: GOR-E001-A, GOR-E001-B, GOR-E001-C, GOR-E004-B, GOR-HUNGRYVALLEY-A, GOR-HUNGRYVALLEY-B, GOR-HUNGRYVALLEY-C, LAC-E005, LAC-E008-C, LAC-E008-D – per the Genasys Evacuation Map.
According to the California Highway Patrol incident logs, all lanes on the northbound side of the I-5 were blocked off to allow first responders to access and fight the blaze. Delays of up to 10 minutes were initially expected and traffic extended almost 3 miles south due to the closures.
The CHP Fort Tejon area Office posted on its official Instagram that traffic on the southbound side of the I-5 was being diverted to the State Route 138 east and northbound traffic was turned around at Smokey Bear.
By 6:15 p.m., CHP officers were conducting escorts on the southbound side of the I-5. Northbound lanes remained closed, as of the publication of this story.
According to live camera video footage from ALERT California, a public safety and environmental monitoring program that provides live images of open spaces across the state, a thick black cloud of smoke could be seen.
The Santa Clarita Valley has been under an extreme heart warning through Thursday afternoon, with the heat reaching nearly 100-degree Fahrenheit and 10 mph winds, according to the National Weather Service.
This is a developing news story, and more information will be added as it becomes available.
