With several devastating wildfires already burning in the Los Angeles region, another brush fire forced evacuation orders in Woodland Hills on Thursday afternoon.
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
The fire, originally called the Kennith Fire and then changed to Kenneth by Cal Fire, was first reported around 3:30 p.m. at 4850 W Victory Bl., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. It was initially estimated at 50 acres, and within 90 minutes it had exploded to 791 acres.
KNX producer Jonathan Serviss watched the fire from Calabasas and is in awe of what he saw.
"I'm at the top of Ruthwood Drive, where there were 3 different areas of concentration of open flames, eating their way up over the hillsides of this little canyon, and in the middle of this is a housing development that's got to have at least 50-ish homes," said Serviss. "Watching this from a distance over the last couple of days, you have an awesome appreciation of what the firefighters have been doing. Then watching it in person takes it to an entirely different level."
A mandatory evacuation order was issued for the area of Woodland Hills east of Valley Circle Blvd. from Ingomar St. to Burbank Blvd. It was later downgraded to an evacuation warning.
An evacuation warning was also issued for the area between Valley Circle Blvd. and Woodlake Ave. from Ingomar St./Saticoy St. to Burbank Blvd., which was later lifted.
By early evening, the fire was burning solely in Ventura County, according to the LAFD.
Late Thursday evening, Ventura County Sheriff’s officials confirmed to KNX News that the LAPD had taken a suspect into custody, being questioned on suspicion of arson related to the fire.
At approximately 7:45 PM on Thursday, the VCFD shared via X that forward progress had been stopped as the blaze grew to 960 acres, still at 0% containment.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok