Fast-moving brush fire near 5 Freeway in Gorman burns tens of thousands of acres, forces evacuations

A rapidly growing brush fire near the 5 Freeway in Gorman forced evacuation orders Saturday.

The “Post Fire” was first reported at around 1:48 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. By 3 p.m., it was over 500 acres. By 4:30 p.m., it was over 2,000 acres. By 6 p.m., it grew to over 3,600 acres and by 8:30 p.m., it was over 4,400 acres.

As of 9 a.m. Sunday, the fire had grown to 10,504 acres and was only two percent contained. That figure rose to 12,265 acres as of 11:11 a.m., according to an update issued by CAL FIRE.

Later on Sunday morning, the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for the 5 Freeway corridor in northwest L.A. County and Ventura County mountain areas until 3 p.m. Monday.

“Dangerous fire-weather conditions are expected to continue through at least Monday afternoon,” NWS said. “Strong northwest-to-north winds will combine with low daytime relative humidity, and only poor to moderate overnight relative humidity recovery. These conditions will be favorable for the rapid growth and spread of wildfires, including the ongoing Post Fire complex.”

Officials that gusts of up to 50 miles per hour on Sunday afternoon continued to challenge firefighters and further spread the blaze to more than 14,000 acres.

Evacuations are in place near Pyramid Lake, Gorman Post Road, the Hungry Valley SVRA recreation area and surrounding communities in the Grapevine area. Officials said over 1,200 people were evacuated.

The 5 Freeway had initially reopened, but by Sunday evening, officials with the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans closed southbound lanes of I-5 and were rerouting traffic to the 138 and 14 freeways. Northbound lanes of I-5 will remain open.

The town of Castaic was placed on an Evacuation Warning due to expected high winds starting at 10 p.m.

The fire was initially reported on the side of the southbound lanes of the 5 Freeway. The flames later jumped from a hillside behind a McDonald’s restaurant and onto a nearby auto repair shop, destroying the building and many parked cars in the lot.

“It started as a brush fire,” said D.C. Williams with California Highway Patrol. “That did jump the road and went over and unfortunately took out the auto shop and some cars in the parking lot. Fortunately enough, it missed a school. The wind is blowing extremely strong so that’s not helping things at all. Unfortunately, it is still growing.”

Alec Snover works at the gas station across from the McDonald’s and ran over to help evacuate customers inside.

“They were pretty frantic,” Snover said of the customers. “Everybody was yelling ‘Get your car out of here!’ as they were pulling out of the lot. Some people almost backed into each other.”

Helicopters and aircraft from several fire departments responded to the scene to drop water and flame retardants on the growing blaze.

By 11 p.m., containment of the fire was at zero percent. It’s unclear how the fire was ignited. Authorities confirmed several commercial properties are being threatened as over 250 firefighters continue battling the fire overnight.

No injuries were reported so far as officials evacuated residents in the area.

“They were evacuating Hungry Valley which is a big campground, especially with Father’s Day weekend, there has been a lot of people out there camping, riding their dirtbikes and quads, so State Parks is out there getting those people out and into a place of safety,” Williams said. “If you’re planning on coming up here, you may want to change your plans.”

CHP said traffic in the area has been heavily impacted by the fire. Many drivers had stopped to take photos and videos of the fire which resulted in several crashes.

“It’s very easy with just the light, flashy fuels we have here, along with these high winds,” said Craig Little with L.A. County Fire. “It’s very easy for a small fire to become large at a very rapid rate.”

“Northwest winds expected to increase tonight across the Post Fire, especially after 10 p.m. when ridgetop winds could gust over 60 mph,” said the National Weather Service.

Gorman is a small unincorporated area in northwest L.A. County and is a common stopping place for food and gas along the 5 Freeway.

Evacuation information, including a map of affected areas, can be found here. More information from CAL FIRE can be found here.

This developing story will be updated as more information becomes available.