Fire Jan. 2014 California

GLENDORA, Calif. — A fast-moving brush fire that erupted Thursday morning has quickly burned at least 1,700 acres of land northeast of downtown Los Angeles, county fire officials said, and fire crews worked throughout the day to contain the blaze.

The police in Glendora said that three men had been arrested in connection with the blaze, called the Colby Fire, which broke out just before 6 a.m. in the Angeles National Forest.

The chief of the Glendora police, Tim Staab, said at a news conference that the three men had apparently been camping in the Angeles National Forest, and at least one man told detectives that they had been tossing pieces of paper into a campfire when a breeze kicked up and nearby brush caught fire. The men were cooperating with the police, Chief Staab said.

The men — Clifford E. Henry, 22; Jonathan C. Jarrell, 23; and Steven R. Aguirre, 21, — were arrested on charges of recklessly starting a fire and were being held on $20,000 bail. Mr. Aguirre identified himself as homeless, the police said.

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VIDEO|0:52Los Angeles Wildfire Firefighters battled the Colby fire in Glendora, Calif., which broke out just before 6 a.m. in the Angeles National Forest, about 25 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
“He was apologetic,” said Chief Staab of the man who discussed the blaze.

One woman and two firefighters sustained minor injuries; five houses were destroyed and 17 other structures were damaged. About 1,700 houses were evacuated, officials said.

Typically, the Southern California wildfire season ends by January. But with little rain this winter, fire officials predicted that the threat of fires might not yet be over, and said that red-flag warnings had been in effect all week.

Chief Staab said the foothills around Glendora had not burned significantly since the 1960s, leaving the area with plenty of dry brush. Once the brush in the Angeles National Forest caught fire, winds of about 20 miles an hour pushed the flames toward houses in Glendora.

By late afternoon, much of the smoke around Glendora had cleared. Still, more than a dozen helicopters, air tankers and “super scoopers” dumped thousands of gallons of water onto the blaze from above. About 800 firefighters were also working to contain the fire, which was 30 percent contained late Thursday afternoon.

John Tripp, a deputy chief with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said relatively mild winds helped in controlling the fire, which had been “hopscotching,” with small blazes breaking out up to a half mile ahead of the main fire.

“The forward spread of the fire has stopped,” he said. “The weather cooperated quite a bit today.”

Todd Finkbiner, 32, spent all morning trying to protect his grandparents’ house in the Glendora hills from the flames. Firefighters drew water from his grandparents’ pool, while he used a garden hose to put out spot fires. All the homes in the neighborhood were spared, but Mr. Finkbiner burned his foot and ankle when he stepped on a hot spot that burned through his shoe.

“The fire was moving very fast, and jumping big distances,” he said. “One palm tree just exploded. It looked like a Roman candle. You could hear it popping.”

There are no designated campsites in the area where the suspects were camping, which had been closed to vehicles in recent weeks because of high fire danger, Chief Staab said. He said that there was no evidence that anyone had been living in the area.

A resident had spotted two of the suspects moving downhill away from the fire; the police took them into custody. The third suspect was detained after the police gave him a ride out of the fire zone.

Chief Staab said Thursday afternoon that residents would be allowed to return to their homes in Glendora, where a state of emergency had been declared earlier in the day.

“This morning at about 6 o’clock it looked pretty terrible out there,” said Joseph A. Santoro, the mayor of Glendora, a city of about 50,000 people. “It was moving pretty fast.”

He said he believed the firefighters’ efforts had “saved a lot of houses.”