An estimated four acres burned in a brush fire that broke out May 12 on a Culver City hillside. More than 100 Ladera Heights residents lost power as a result of the fire.
“Multiple structures were threatened initially, but nothing burned,” said Los Angeles County Fire Jason Hurd.
The fire charred the hillside between the homes that line Shenandoah Avenue and Holy Cross Cemetery near Slauson Avenue.
More than 100 firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Culver City Fire Department fought the inferno, along with four water-dropping helicopters from L.A. County.
“There were a ton of firefighters that made their way through the graves. I could see the fire in the distance and was just happy that the firemen acted so quickly. There were a lot of families visiting on Mother’s Day,” said witness John Rigby.
Culver City Fire Department spokesman Steve Dontanville said the blaze was most likely started by a blown electrical transformer.
Amado Zavala, a spokesman for Southern California Edison could not verify the cause of the fire, but said roughly 120 Culver City customers were without power.
Clifford Neuman, a Shenandoah Avenue resident learned of the fire when he lost power in his home. Shortly thereafter, he saw fire trucks driving down the street.
“I saw a bright light coming from the power lines over the backyard and looked outside. Two wires broke and fell into the yard,” said Nikkole Denson-Randolph another witness and resident in the neighborhood.
Denson-Randolph described a chain reaction of power lines breaking in the backyards of other homes on Reynier Avenue.
“I walked outside and saw smoke, then flames, coming from the brush area behind my neighbors’ homes on Shenandoah,” Denson-Randolph said.
The firefighting helicopters dropped flame retardant on the fire in an effort to keep the fire from spreading to adjacent homes.
“It took 45 minutes to knock down the fire, which was under control by 6 p.m.,” said Hurd.
According to Zavala, SoCal Edison restored power once the fire was contained and the area was safe.