Three fires in Los Angeles, one believed to be caused by fireworks and another being investigated for possible arson, broke out within about 90 minutes of each other between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2, according to Los Angeles City fire officials.
No injuries or structural damage were reported and the fires were all extinguished. Two were initially reported as rubbish fires that spread to grassy areas near major freeways and the third was classified as a grass fire. Wind also was a possible factor, said Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter and LAFD spokesperson Jennifer Middleton.
The Transition fire was possibly caused by fireworks, Middleton said, and was reported at 5:08 p.m. on the right shoulder of the transition from the northbound 101 (Hollywood) Freeway and the northbound 110 (Harbor) Freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol. Firefighters kept flames that had ignited nearby trees from spreading to an apartment building, Middleton said, and the fire was put out in about 70 minutes.
The Stadium fire was reported at around 5:44 p.m. near the southbound 110 (Harbor) Freeway east of Park Row Drive, Elysian Park. Lanes were shut down on both sides of the freeway and it took a team of firefighters in the air and on the ground a little over an hour to put out the brush fire that burned up to two acres of grass. The blaze was initially reported as a 50-foot-by-50-foot patch of grass. Arson investigators and counterparts from the Los Angeles Police Department were called to the scene, Middleton said.
It was not immediately known whether the wind-driven fire was related to the Transition Fire, the grass fire farther south where the Harbor Freeway transitions to the 101 (Hollywood) Freeway.
The Basin fire broke out in grass on the side of the 405 (San Diego) Freeway in the Sepulveda Basin area. That fire was reported at 6:27 p.m. along the southbound 405 just north of Burbank Boulevard, Middleton said. The California Highway Patrol temporarily shut down southbound and northbound traffic in the area, according to its online log.
City News Service contributed to this report