Sepulveda Pass Brush Fire Burns 70 Acres

Getty Center voluntarily evacuates; no homes threatened

A brush fire near that erupted near the Getty Center on Friday has consumed 70 acres and full containment is expected by Sunday, fire officials said.

The fire was 40 percent contained shortly before 8 p.m., according to Cecil Manresa of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

UPDATE, Sept. 16: The so-called Getty Fire was fully contained as of 2 p.m. Sunday after charring a total of 90 acres, according to Erik Scott with LAFD. Crews "will maintain an overnight presence to ensure no flare-ups," Scott said.

About 300 firefighters responded to the blaze , which started around 3:30 p.m. just east of the 405 Freeway near the intersection of Getty Center Drive and Sepulveda Boulevard.

By 5:45 p.m., it had burned about 40 acres, Manresa said. By 6:30 p.m., it had grown to consume 70 acres.

Photos: Super Scoopers Join Fight Against Sepulveda Fire

No homes were threatened and the nearby Getty Center voluntarily evacuated its facility, LAFD Capt. Jaime Moore said.

No injuries have been reported, according to the LAFD. An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway and arson investigators were on scene Friday night looking into the possibility that sparks from a car engine or something else may have started the fire which broke out near a major roadway.

Moore said the blaze -- one of three, unrelated fires in the area that started Friday afternoon -- was not wind-driven. He described it as "more of a topography fire" and the biggest in the area since the 1961 Bel Air Fire.

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Two Super Scooper aircraft, which were stationed in Van Nuys, joined the assault. The state-owned aircraft were requested by the city and used water from the Santa Monica Bay, three minutes away by chopper. The bright yellow amphibious CL215 planes can drop up to 3,000 gallons per trip.

At least five helicopters also assisted in the air attack.

Firefighters were deployed into nearby neighborhoods equipped with handlines, or small hoses used to fight brush fires up close, said LAFD Capt. Jaime Moore.

"That doesn't mean those houses are directly threatened or we're evacuating those homes. What that means is that our firefighters are actually in place causing a little bit of a sense of security for those neighborhoods," Moore said.

"They're there for structure protection and those handlines will be used in the event that we get some fires that start spotting in that area," said Moore, adding that volunteer firefighters were at the scene cutting brush around the blaze.

No power outages were reported in the fire area, according to the Department of Water and Power.

The northbound freeway off-ramp to Getty Center Drive was temporarily closed and traffic was slowed in the area, said Charmaine Fajardo of the CHP. Sepulveda Boulevard was also closed between the 10 and 101 freeways.

Two smaller fires in the area were either under control or extinguished, according to the LAFD.

The National Weather Service had issued a hazardous weather advisory for the Los Angeles area, saying triple-digit temperatures in some areas have heightened fire danger in mountainous areas. Downtown Los Angeles hit 99 degrees Friday.

Military officials also said a small brush fire was burning on the grounds of the Camp Pendleton Marine base in San Diego County. No damages to structures or injuries had been reported. Click here for updates on that fire from NBC San Diego.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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