Brush Fire Burns 12 Acres in Topanga | |
Brush Fire Burns 12 Acres in TopangaBrush Fire Burns 12 Acres in Topanga
“Topanga, we dodged a bullet today. If the winds were stronger this would have been a completely different event. Thank you LACoFD; thank you LAFD; thank you Flight Crews; thank you firefighters; thank you call firefighters and thank you 69Bravo!”
—TCEP
A second-alarm brush fire broke out in Topanga on Wednesday, July 26, at Dirt Mulholland and Santa Maria Road.
Known as the Owen Incident, the Los Angeles County Fire Department reported that the fire started at 2:01 p.m. near N. Topanga Canyon Boulevard and 2735 Santa Maria Road in the hills above Fair Hills Farms. Location of the Owen fire 2.5 miles north of 69 Bravo. |
 69 Bravo was activated. Over 38,000 gallons of water was “snorkeled” in less than 90 minutes
As of Thursday, July 27, the County Fire updated the event and reported that the fire was more accurately mapped, down from 25 acres to 12 acres with 70 percent containment.
According to the LACoFD Incident Report: “County Fire resources assigned to this incident included: “Twelve engines, three helicopters, one Heli-tanker, one paramedic squad, six camp crews, four camp superintendents, one water tender, one patrol, two dozer teams, one safety officer, four battalion chiefs, and two assistant fire chiefs. The Los Angeles County Fire Department, Cal Fire, and McCormick Ambulance were also assisting on scene. Crews continued to work throughout the day until mop-up was complete.”
“In addition,” wrote Wayne Coulson, CEO of the Coulson Group, “the CH 47 Heli-Tanker dropped 51,000 gallons on this fire during the day and 6000 gallons of retardant at night.”
|  The cause of the fire was not immediately known. There were no immediate reports of structural damage or injuries.
During the fire, Caltrans closed Topanga Canyon Boulevard in both directions from Mulholland south to PCH. The Boulevard was opened again at about 4:30 p.m. as air support continued dropping water on hotspots.
City fire officials reported to The Daily News that the brush in that area was moderate to heavy, and that the fire had been spurred on by light winds in the area.
On Wednesday, air support was on the scene within minutes, with three helitankers and the County’s H-47 Chinook assigned to drop water.
Additionally, a fixed-wing Air Tanker dropped Phos-Chek on the perimeter of the fire that stopped all forward movement.
Throughout the fire, the aircraft filled their tanks at the 69Bravo Helistop in Topanga that was fully engaged and monitoring the fire online in real time with their 365-degree live cams (69bravo.com).
After the fire, 69Bravo reported that the location of the Owen Incident was 2.5 miles north of 69 Bravo and more than 38,000 gallons of water was “snorkeled” in less than 90 minutes.
“Help from our fixed-wing friends to stop the western advancement of the fire onto Topanga Canyon Blvd, and visible results of the fire retardant stopping the fire in order to save Topanga’s only major emergency exit route and containment, took place within 2 ½ hours,” 69Bravo said.
The Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparadness (TCEP) also monitored the Incident and provided real-time updates throughout the incident.
The fire today was particularly stubborn,” TCEP reported after the event. “Even though winds were relatively mild, water would not hold it down and it would reignite shortly after hit with water. The Air Tanker with Phos-Chek was the magic bullet, as pilots hit the perimeter and kept the fire from spreading and getting out of control.
For real time emergency information, go to TCEP at tcep.org.
Be fire safe! Go to fire.lacounty.gov/incident-archive-2/ to download your Ready/Set/Go! Personal Wildfire Action Plan.  | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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