View
comments
Advertisement
California highway authorities were forced to close all lanes of Interstate 5 in Southern California as firefighters battled a wildfire just 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The fire broke out Saturday afternoon in mountainous terrain near Castaic in northern Los Angeles County at 5pm and grew to 450 acres - more than half a square mile - prompting the California Highway Patrol to close a stretch of the busy freeway.
Two firefighters sustained burn injuries tackling the blaze, but details about their conditions were not immediately available. Both were transported for treatment.
The fire remained completely uncontained, but firefighters were making 'good progress' with the help of water-dropping helicopters and an aggressive ground attack, the U.S. Forest Service said at 7pm.
Shortly after 9pm, the CHP reopened two lanes of the freeway in each direction while deputies in the Sheriff’s Santa Clarita Valley station reported that the threat to structures appeared to have been 'mitigated.'
The highway was eventually reopened on Sunday as the blaze moved on.
This aerial picture shows the wildfire burning off Interstate 5, just north of Castaic on Saturday, prompting the California Highway Patrol to close a stretch of the busy freeway
