Sepulveda Fire ignites near 405 Freeway, with temporary evacuation warnings in Bel Air
Firefighters are battling a brush fire that broke out in the Sepulveda Pass near the I-405 Freeway late Wednesday.
It was first reported just after 11 p.m. near northbound lanes of the freeway in Sherman Oaks, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
KCAL News
It said the blaze, which is being called the Sepulveda Fire, had burned through approximately 20 acres of brush and were moving through heavy brush. Cal Fire later said 40 acres had been consumed. The National Weather Serviced said there were 8-15 mph winds in the area with gusts up to 25 mph.
At around 11:30 p.m., an evacuation warning was issued for people living in the 1500 block of Casiano Road north of Moraga Drive east of Sepulveda Boulevard, west of Chalon Road.
All warnings were lifted at 2 a.m.
Below is a searchable map showing evacuation orders updated in real time.
California Highway Patrol officers issued a SigAlert for the Getty Center Drive offramp on both sides of the 405 Freeway, as well as the Sepulveda Boulevard offramp for southbound lanes at around 12:15 a.m.
Around 4:30 a.m. Thursday, the CHP canceled the SigAlert reopening the offramps.
Just before 1 a.m., no visible flames could be seen on the hillside as several water-dropping helicopters continued to douse the area, and an hour later firefighters reported that forward progress had been stopped.
With SkyCal overhead, dozens of fire engines could be seen parked on roads below the fire, while water-dropping aircraft worked from above. The flames moved slowly uphill towards E. Sepulveda Fire Road, where a helicopter could be seen dropping loads of water on the largest patches of fire.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
The spot of the fire was just miles east over the Santa Monica Mountains from current areas that remain under evacuation order from the devastating Palisades Fire, which broke out earlier in January and torched more than 23,000 acres and destroyed thousands of homes.
