A brush fire in Sylmar has burned at least five homes and 1500 acres, forcing evacuations as strong winds are quickly spreading the flames. The flames jumped the 210 Freeway causing L.A. Fire Department to close the roadway.
Winds were gusting up to about 50 mph at 2 a.m. as several homes along Dronefield Avenue burned. The fire jumped the 210 freeway near Cobalt Street, and the freeway was closed shortly after midnight.
As many as a dozen homes burned since the fire started about 10:30 p.m. Friday. An estimated 1,500 acres were blackened in the foothills, mostly north of the freeway.
Officials at Olive View Medical Center, which was without electricity, were working to evacuate some 200 patients to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. The most critical patients and babies were moved first.
Some storage buildings on the hospital campus burned.
Just one injury was reported -- a 40-year-old man who suffered serious burns, according to broadcast reports.
Evacuations were ordered north of the freeway. Police were helping firefighters get disabled people out of their homes. As many as 5,000 people were sent to shelters.
Evacuation centers were set up at Sylmar High School at 13050 Borden Ave. in Sylmar and at San Fernando High School at 11133 O'Melveny Ave. in San Fernando.
Horse and other large animals were being taken to Hansen Dam Park. A mobile kennel was set up at Sylmar High School, and small pets also can be taken to the Mission animal shelter at Strandwood Avenue and Brand Boulevard.
The blaze started about 10:30 p.m. Friday, near the 13000 block of West Sayre Street near Shablow Avenue, fire officials said.
City firefighers, who were making rare nighttime water drops with helicopters, were backed up by their colleagues from the county and the U.S. Forest Service.
Evacuation centers were set up at Sylmar High School at 13050 Borden
Ave. in Sylmar and at San Fernando High School at 11133 O'Melveny Ave. in San Fernando.
A staging area for fire equipment has been established near Hubbard
Street and Eldridge Avenue.
This blaze comes just 24 hours after massive fires broke in both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.
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