Updated: Fire Crews Quickly Contain Walnut Brush Fire

Updated 5:45 p.m.

Silver Trail resident Yasmeen Najmi was at home doing laundry and preparing for upcoming guests when she stepped outside and spotted black smoke wafting in the air three doors down from her property.

"I just ran inside and I called 9-1-1," said Najmi, the wife of Walnut Planning Commissioner Waseem Najmi.  "I could see this dark, smoke billowing up."

At just before 4 p.m., fire engines descended the residential street in the hilly neighborhood behind Walnut City Hall. Crews, 195 firefighters total, tackled the small brush fire that burned on grassy hillsides on both sides of the street.

Around 12 engines, 12 battalion chiefs, four camp crews, and 1 squad patrol responded to the scene. Firefighters from West Covina and Pomona aided those from Walnut. By 4:45 p.m., the two-acre fire was dying out and crews were mopping up the scene.

Najmi said the brush behind her home and the neighboring properties had just been tilled on Wednesday, something Los Angeles County Fire and Sheriff's officials have been emphasizing recently as the weather has become hot and dry.

Mayor Pro Tem Antonio "Tony" Cartagena said that is why it is important for residents to make sure to clean up their brush. A similar fire in July near the sheriff's station on Valley Boulevard was quickly contained because the brush had been cut back, Cartagena said.

Councilman Eric Ching, who was out knocking on doors shortly after the blaze erupted, said the smoke from the fire could be seen from the 57/60 freeway interchange.  He was out shopping he said when spotted the smoke.

"I saw the smoke and I rushed right over," he said.  I am so glad they were able to put it out so quickly."

-----

Original Story

A small brush fire that scorched a couple of acres along a Walnut trail this afternoon has been contained by fire crews, a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman said today.

Los Angeles County Fire Crews were dispatched at 3:49 p.m. to the 600 block of North Silver Trail where they quickly issued a second alarm, calling for more equipment, said the county fire spokesman.

County Fire officials dispatched 195 firefighters and one water-dropping helicopter to battle the fire, said county fire department spokesman David Bloom. Some structures were threatened, he said.

As of 4:45 p.m., the flames were dying down and crews had a good handle on the blaze, the spokesman said. No one was hurt and no property was damaged, officials said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, officials said.

Though small, the smell and sight of of a large plume of smoke jangled nerves of residents in and around Walnut thanks to a number of destructive fires that have broken out around Southern California.

Los Angeles County Fire officials said they did not expect the Walnut fire to spread beyond the few acres it had already burned.