Firefighters gained the upper hand on a wind-driven brush fire that broke out west of the 710 Freeway in East Los Angeles Monday afternoon, right by county firefighters’ headquarters.
Dubbed the Blanchard Fire, the flames were reported just after 12 p.m. along the 710’s southbound lanes north of the 60 Freeway, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Sean Ferguson.
A California Highway Patrol incident log showed the blaze was near Floral Drive. Traffic was expected to be backed up in the area as a result of the blaze.
Aerial video from Sky5 showed no flames but a large amount of smoke coming from a hillside along the freeway around 12:50 p.m. as helicopters dropped water on the area. On the other side of the hillside from the fire is the Fire Department’s headquarters at 1320 N. Eastern Ave.
As of about 12:40 p.m., the blaze covered around 3 acres as it spread uphill in medium to light brush, fire officials said.
But by 1 p.m., firefighters said they had stopped the flames’ forward progress at about 8 acres. Crews battled the flames both in the air and on the ground to protect buildings that had initially been threatened by the fast-moving blaze.
No structures were burned and no injuries were reported.
The fire’s cause was under investigation.
No further details were immediately available.
