Sept. 5 (UPI) — The La Tuna fire, one of the largest brush fire’s in Los Angeles’ history, was 70 percent contained Tuesday morning, fire officials said.
The Los Angeles City Fire Department said firefighters have brought the fire from 30 percent contained Monday to 70 percent contained Tuesday.
“We hit this hard, we hit it fast and we’ve done everything we can and we’re proud to say out of those nearly 1,400 homes, only five have been destroyed and that we’ve been really able to jump from 30 percent to 70 percent containment,” LAFD Capt. Erik Scott said Tuesday.
At more than 7,000 acres at its peak, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the wildfire was historic.
“We’re confident, back to 1961, the Bel-Air fire, that this is the largest fire by acreage in the city of Los Angeles,” LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas added.
Emergency officials lifted all evacuation orders, which had displaced more than 700 people. The 210 Freeway, which had been shut down in both directions for three days, was reopened Monday.
Four people were injured in the blaze — two from dehydration, one from a bee sting and one with minor burns.
On Sunday, California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles County, paving the way for the deployment of more personnel and equipment at the discretion of the California Office of Emergency Services.
It’s undetermined how the fire started Friday.
