Crews Battle 3 Fires in L.A., Ventura County

The season’s largest brush fire broke out Tuesday at a campground in Los Padres National Forest near Interstate 5 and had consumed more than 600 acres of forest land by Tuesday night.

Earlier in the day, two separate blazes broke out within hours of each other in hillside areas near the Foothill and Hollywood freeways in Los Angeles, tying up traffic for much of the day, Los Angeles fire officials said.

Arson investigators were probing all three fires.

The Los Padres fire was reported about 2 p.m. in Kings Camp, a campground north of Pyramid Lake and just west of Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area, fire officials said.

No homes were threatened, said Kathy Good, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.

The cause of the fire had not been determined but there were campers at Kings Camp, officials said.

The blaze was reported to be 40% contained at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

The day’s first fire, reported about 10:20 a.m. in Tujunga, charred less than four acres near the eastbound Foothill (210) Freeway west of the Lowell Avenue exit. Three water-dropping helicopters and more than 100 Los Angeles and Glendale firefighters doused the flames by 11:30 a.m., said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Two eastbound lanes along the Foothill Freeway were closed for more than three hours, backing up traffic for a mile to the La Tuna Canyon Road exit, said Officer Shirley Gaines, a California High Patrol spokeswoman.

No buildings burned and no injuries were reported.

A second fire broke out just before noon east of the Hollywood Bowl in Cahuenga Pass, burning 10 acres of brush and grass, Collis said.

Six helicopters dropped water on the flames as more than 160 Los Angeles firefighters beat back the blaze from the ground. Five crews from Los Angeles County probation camps helped fight the fire near the intersection of Cahuenga Terrace and Cahuenga Boulevard. The fire was extinguished by 1:15 p.m., Collis said.

Although some houses were threatened, no structures caught fire and no injuries were reported, he said.

Smoke from the fire could be seen from the Hollywood Freeway. The CHP closed exits for Cahuenga Boulevard in both directions and the southbound Highland Avenue exit, Gaines said.

“Luckily this wasn’t a windy day, or things could have been a lot worse,” Collis said.

“It’s supposed to be a dry summer,” Collis added. “It’s hard to tell if we’re going to have many fires this summer, but things aren’t starting off very well.”

Times Community News reporter Holly J. Wolcott and Times staff writer Agnes Diggs contributed to this story.