From the RPV City Staff:
11:45 a.m.:
A brush fire began mid morning near the Salvation Army and City Hall facilities. Police and fire crews are on the scene. Power is currently out in the general vicinity; therefore, traffic signals at Hawthorne & Palos Verdes Drive South (PVDS), PVDS at the entrance to Terranea & Hawthorne & Valon Drive are not operating.
Hawthorne is closed to traffic between Valon Drive & PVDS. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
11:57 a.m.:
The brush fire that began mid morning near the Salvation Army and City Hall facilities is still burning. Police and fire crews are on the scene. Power is currently out in the general vicinity; therefore, traffic signals at Hawthorne & Palos Verdes Drive South (PVDS), PVDS at the entrance to Terranea & Hawthorne are not operating. The traffic light at Vallon Drive & Hawthorne is operating. Eastbound (up the hill) Hawthorne is closed to traffic between Vallon Drive & PVDS. Westbound Hawthorne (down the hill) is currently open. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
Update from City News Service: Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Darryl Jacobs says that 50 to 75
firefighters are battling a 10-acre brush fire at the end of Hawthorne
Boulevard near City Hall in Rancho Palos Verdes in a two-alarm fire that has not yet
reached any structures.
Our photographer at the scene says it's pretty well contained.
Firefighters are working to extinguish a quarter acre of brush burning on the south side of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
The blaze that broke out about 10 a.m. is located off Hawthorne Boulevard and Via Capri, not far from the Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall, firefighters said.
Winds are light, just 5 mph, and the Fire Department believes it has enough firefighters there to handle it unless the gusts pick up.
The Coast Guard is on its way to a rescue seven nautical miles (8 miles) outside of Los Angeles Harbor. Three people are in the water because their boat is sinking.
A motorist was shot early today in an attempted carjacking in Harbor Gateway, prompting a police search for the fleeing suspect who was later found hiding beneath an apartment building, officials said.
The unidentified suspect allegedly shot the man during the attempted theft around 2 a.m. near 227th Street and Western Avenue, said Lt. Susan Willis, of Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division.
Officers set up a perimeter and used dogs and a helicopter to find the suspect, who fled on foot and left behind the vehicle.
He was arrested after police cornered him in his hiding place, the crawl space beneath a nearby apartment building, Willis said.
The motorists' injuries were not life threatening, she added.
The suspect will be booked on attempted murder charges, Willis said.
The 15-year-old boy killed in a weekend drive-by shooting in Hawthorne has been identified as Gabriel Jimenez.
The Hawthorne teen was walking near the corner of 115th Street and Inglewood Avenue with three friends about 8 p.m. Friday when a car pulled up and opened fire in an apparent gang-related attack, police said.
Jimenez died early Saturday after undergoing surgery, but the wounds of his companions, ages 14, 15 and 18, were not considered life threatening.
Police do not have any suspect descriptions, but said the car was dark in color.
