Firefighters halted the forward progress of a 100-acre wildfire in Sepulveda Pass near the I-405 Freeway late Wednesday. Cal Fire reported Thursday afternoon that the fire was 60% contained.
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the fire was first reported just after 11 p.m. near the northbound lanes of the freeway in Sherman Oaks.
KCAL News
The Sepulveda fire had destroyed about 40 hectares of brush under winds of 13 to 25 km per hour, with gusts up to 40 km per hour. About 250 firefighters from the Los Angeles Fire Department quickly responded to the area, according to Cal Fire.
Evacuation warnings were issued around 11:30 p.m. for people living in the 1500 block of Casiano Road north of Moraga Drive east of Sepulveda Boulevard and west of Chalon Road.
Just before 1 a.m., no visible flames were seen on the hill as several helicopters continued to douse the area with water drops, completely halting forward progress about an hour later.
By 2 a.m., all evacuation warnings had been lifted.
Below is a searchable map of evacuation orders updated in real time.
California Highway Patrol officers issued a SigAlert for the Getty Center Drive exit on both sides of the 405 Freeway, as well as the Sepulveda Boulevard exit for southbound lanes, around 12:15 p.m.
Around 4:30 a.m. Thursday, the CHP canceled the SigAlert, reopening the exits.
With SkyCal overhead, dozens of fire engines could be seen parked on roads below the fire, while water-dropping planes worked from above. The flames slowly moved uphill toward the E. Sepulveda Fire Road, where a helicopter dropped loads of water on the largest areas of the fire.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
The site of the fire was just miles east over the Santa Monica Mountains, of current areas still under evacuation orders due to its devastating effects. Palisades Firewhich erupted earlier in January, burning more than 23,000 hectares and destroying thousands of homes.