Brush fire briefly closes Glendale Freeway as larger blaze blackens 200 acres in O.C.
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The northbound Glendale Freeway was closed briefly for a small brush fire Wednesday afternoon while, to the south, fire crews battled a blaze in Orange County that quickly consumed more than 200 acres.
Authorities responded to the Glendale blaze, dubbed the York fire, next to California 2 near Round Top Drive around 4:50 p.m Wednesday, said Fire Department spokesperson Jamie Stewart.
The fire, initially reported by the department as a quarter-acre “topography driven fire with no wind,” grew to 2 acres, Stewart said.
According to the California Highway Patrol, shortly after 5 p.m., the Fire Department asked law enforcement to briefly shut down all lanes of the northbound 2 so a water tanker could be transported to battle the York fire.
The full closure lasted about three minutes, said Sgt. Christian Stevens, a CHP spokesperson. But as of 6 p.m., two lanes of the northbound Glendale Freeway were still closed, as were the York Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard northbound on-ramps. No reopening time has been set, according to Stevens.
Stewart said around 100 Fire Department personnel and 17 fire engines were assigned to the 2-acre fire. No structures were threatened. By about 6 p.m., forward progress had been stopped, with crews remaining at the site to mop up, Stewart said. No injuries were reported, according to the Fire Department.
Meanwhile in Orange County, the Gibby fire quickly burned 216 acres near Rancho Mission Viejo and San Juan Capistrano. It ignited near Ortega Highway and Gibby Road around 3 p.m., according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The blaze spurred the closure of eastbound Ortega Highway at Gateway Place and westbound at Grand Avenue in Lake Elsinore, according to the CHP.
Shelter-in-place orders were in effect for a few hours. Forward progress of the blaze was halted about 7:30 p.m., according to the Orange County Fire Authority. Ortega Highway remained closed from Gateway to Grand.
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