California Brush Fire Covering 500 Acres in Calabasas and Topanga is 75 Percent Contained
The blaze has burned more than 500 acres in Calabasas and Topanga.
-- A raging brush fire in Southern California that spread to more than 500 acres of land in areas of Calabasas and Topanga was 75 percent contained as of Sunday afternoon, officials said.
One home suffered damage and one commercial structure was destroyed from the 516-acre fire, officials said.
About 3,700 homes in Calabasas and Topanga were evacuated, impacting about 5,000 residents, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Capt. Eddie Rivero said Sunday morning.
Evacuations were lifted in Calabasas at 2 a.m. Sunday but mandatory evacuations for Topanga remained in place Sunday, Rivero said.
Officials cautioned that residents returning to Calabasas may be going back without power, though the specific number of power outages was not immediately clear.
Los Angeles County Fire Department Deputy Chief John Tripp said Sunday morning the fire was still a very large challenge on the east and south side because it's "up on a mid slope of the canyon."
"That makes it extremely dangerous ... to do a direct attack and try to get containment of that," Tripp said.
Tripp cautioned that if the sun and heat reach the fuel, the fire "could get up and start moving again like it did yesterday."
Crews fighting the blaze included 400 firefighters and water-dropping helicopters.
Fire officials said Saturday the cause of the fire was not confirmed but there were reports that the fire had three separate starts.