A 12-mile (19km) stretch of the 210 Freeway was closed Friday afternoon when a brush fire in the Verdugo Mountains jumped the highway and threatened about 50 homes, triggering evacuations, authorities said.

The miles-long closure of the freeway left hundreds of motorists stranded on the sun-baked roadway, and there was no timetable for when the freeway would be reopened.

The fire was reported before 1.30pm on the south side of the 210 in the 10800 block of La Tuna Canyon Road on the west side of the mountains, said Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The blaze was initially estimated at an acre or less, but a wind shift about 2pm sent embers flying a quarter-mile north across the freeway, where they landed in dry brush and started another fire, Stewart said.

By 5pm, Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said the fire had spread to about 500 acres and dozens of firefighters were working on the ground to halt the flames from spreading to Burbank.

The fire was 10% contained, said LAFD spokesman Captain Erik Scott.

Residents in Haines Canyon and Reverie Canyon were under a voluntary evacuation order, and residents in about 200 households fled, Terrazas said. However, fluctuating winds had diminished the threat to both neighbourhoods, fire officials said.

“The winds are continuing to shift, so it’s a very dynamic fire,” Scott said.

An evacuation centre was initially set up at Verdugo Hills High School but officials relocated the shelter to Sunland Recreation Centre in the 8000 block of Foothill Boulevard in Sunland.

Firefighters worked to surround the blaze as six choppers performed water drops “to take the heat out of the head of the fire,” he said.

The fire is spreading fast, and local agencies are throwing all they can at the blaze to keep it in check before it burns homes, officials said.

At least 400 firefighters are battling the blaze, Stewart said.

The 210 was shut down from the 118 Freeway to the 2 Freeway.

Westbound traffic on the 210 was being diverted onto the 2, and eastbound traffic was being diverted onto the 118, the California Highway Patrol said.

But between the boundaries of the closure, hundreds of cars were trapped on the westbound lanes for several hours, said LAPD Deputy Chief John A. Sherman, calling it a “very significant traffic problem.”

Officials were trying to direct the trapped vehicles to eastbound lanes and onto Foothill Boulevard, Sherman said.

The fire had the potential to grow up to 2,000 acres overall, and to stem the blaze’s growth, firefighters from Pasadena, the US. Forest Service, Burbank and the Los Angeles County Fire Department were on the scene.

A battalion chief and five engines from the Glendale Fire Department were also assisting in the fight, said Anita Shandi, a department spokeswoman.

“Our biggest worry right now is the winds and dry conditions,” she said.

Those conditions are not expected to improve for at least a few hours, if at all overnight, according to the National Weather Service.

“We’re expecting gusty, erratic winds in the evening,” said meteorologist Carol Smith.

Temperatures reached 106 degrees around the fire while gusts of wind blasted over ridge tops at up to 50mph, she said. At the same time, unstable air is creating a strong rising motion, sending plumes of black smoke and heat sky-high.

“It just really stokes the fire,” Smith said. “I mean, when it’s hot and the gusty winds, it’s been a bad mix of different things going on.”

source: Gulf News