Crews, Planes Head Off Noon Blaze at the Pass

A brush fire in Sepulveda Pass along the San Diego Freeway led to the evacuation of a private grade school Tuesday and charred 30 acres before firefighters squelched it by using SuperScooper aircraft in Los Angeles for the first time this fire season.

About 150 Los Angeles city firefighters and four helicopter crews fought the fire shortly after noon near Skirball Center Drive, shielding more than a dozen hillside homes and the Curtis School, a private elementary and middle school attended by 532 students.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department provided two SuperScooper planes and a Helitanker helicopter, authorities said.

Within an hour, the SuperScooper planes made water drops on the blaze, just west of the freeway, and ground crews poured fire retardant foam on vegetation around the school and homes. No one was injured and no property was damaged, authorities said.

“When we saw the smoke, and our security people saw there was a fire, we gathered our children and moved them up to a playing field some distance from the campus,” said Stephen Switzer, headmaster of Curtis School. “We don’t want to take any chances with our children and faculty.”

The nearby Skirball Cultural Center was not affected by the fire, a spokeswoman said.

It took about 1 1/2 hours to put out the fire, said Brian Humphrey, a city Fire Department spokesman. Afterward, firefighters spent about an hour shooting foam on smoky hot spots.

“If we would have had other wind conditions, it could have been much worse,” said Assistant Fire Chief Bill Ward.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

“Though some of the brush looked green, it burned intensely,” Humphrey said. “We’re preparing for a busy fire season. This quick and decisive action is hopefully a sign of good things to come.”

Commuters spotted a grass fire along the freeway and notified authorities around 12:12 p.m. It quickly grew to two dozen acres and was being pushed uphill by a northerly wind, briefly threatening homes along Royal Woods and Castlewoods drives, authorities said.

Residents had obeyed brush clearance requirements in the mountain fire district, Ward said, allowing firefighters a “defensible space” to battle the blaze.

“Most people here are very concerned and abide by that ordinance,” Ward said.

It also threatened the 27-acre Curtis School campus, which is surrounded by natural vegetation. Fire officials did not order an evacuation.

“The school is of resilient construction and is designed to be in that area,” Humphrey said. “I’m not aware of any formal evacuation. That is probably as safe a place as any for people under those circumstances.”

Tuesday’s blaze was in the hillside areas burned during the 1961 Bel-Air/Brentwood fire, which consumed 484 homes and charred 25 square miles of hillside land, making it one of the most damaging fires in American history at the time.