Firefighters were busy dousing fires across the region while law enforcement agencies were inundated with 911 calls as people gathered to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Several fires were reported in different cities, including one in a San Dimas neighborhood seen in video posted by the Los Angels County Sheriff’s Department San Dimas Station. The agency included the footage in a tweet that said, “Please refrain from setting illegal fireworks. This could be your home.”
As firefighters and deputies responded to the fire, the Sheriff’s Department tweeted a message to residents.
“Please be patient with our dispatchers, we are getting multiple calls at once. Deputies are responding to multiple locations.”
In Azusa, what appeared to be a row of tall trees were ablaze Saturday night. Photos posted to the Azusa Police Department’s Facebook paged showed a firefighter trying to extinguish the flames.
In San Bernardino, residents shared video on Twitter of burning trees on the corner of Merito Avenue and Union Street. As fireworks continued to be heard and seen, people nearby began to worry for those closer to the fires and can be heard on video screaming, “Oh my God! Get out of the way, it’s falling on your house.”
Several large trees and a car caught fire about 8:52 p.m. near residences in the area of San Marino Street and Normandie Avenue in Koreatown, which witnesses captured on video shared to Twitter.
Sky5 captured images of a brush fire in the Shadow Hills area of Los Angeles that was reported at 9998 W. Edmore Place around 10:22 p.m. Saturday and burned three acres, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported. The fire was out within 42 minutes.
Another fire broke out just before 1 a.m. also in Shadow Hills, at 10030 W. Olivia Terrace, and charred another one and a half acres. Firefighters extinguished that fire in 50 minutes.
Both fires remain under investigation and no injuries were reported, according to LAFD.
It’s unclear if the brush fires were started by illegal fireworks, but some neighbors were concerned when they saw the flames nearby.
“We were having a family party — no fireworks, nothing. We were having dinner and a barbecue, and we saw a helicopter and fire trucks. We saw smoke coming and then we saw the fire start,” a resident who lives in a Shadow Hills neighborhood told KTLA. “Somebody did a firework and started this problem.”
A fire ripped through two apartment buildings around 10:05 p.m. in Northridge at 8651 N. Wilbur Ave., where five people were injured — three seriously — and 50 residents were displaced.
In Reseda, LAFD responded to a report of eight large trees on fire, and the roof of a nearby apartment complex at 6501 N. Shirley Ave. just after 1 a.m. on Sunday. The fire was out in 20 minutes, and no injuries were reported.
