Fires scorch brush in San Dimas, Glendora

Two separate “suspicious” brush fires slowed freeway traffic in San Dimas and Glendora Sunday but caused no injuries and prompted no evacuations, authorities said.
They were about two miles apart and ignited within half an hour of each other.
“Timing is suspicious, and being very close,” Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Vince Pea said. “That’s why it’s under investigation.”
Firefighters responded to the first fire, which was actually two blazes, about 11:50 a.m. along the 57 Freeway near Arrow Highway in San Dimas, Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatch Supervisor Clyde Taylor said.
“They had two acres on the west side of the freeway and a quarter-acre on the east side of the freeway,” she said.
Pea said the smaller fire on the east side of the freeway “might have just been spotting from the initial fire (on the west side of the freeway), but still, it’s kind of suspicious.”
No obvious cause was found Sunday, he added, though it remained under investigation.
About 75 firefighters doused the blaze from both ground and air, Taylor said, and extinguished it within 30 minutes.
The Arrow Highway onramps to the southbound 57 Freeway were closed due to the fire Sunday afternoon, along with the Arrow Highway offramp of the northbound 57 Freeway, but all lanes and ramps were re-opened before 2 p.m., according to California Highway Patrol logs.
Just minutes after firefighters extinguished the brush fire in San Dimas, Taylor said, another was reported about 12:20 p.m. in Glendora along the 210 Freeway at Grand Avenue.
The second blaze, which burned on the south side of the freeway, was extinguished just before 1 p.m., she added.
The fire burned within 50 or 75 yards of homes in the 1200 block of Concord Lane, though no evacuations were necessary, Glendora police Lt. Joe Ward said.
There was a clearance of brush between the homes and the fire, he said, however nervous residents kept a close eye on the fire from their yards, and police advised them to be vigilant.
The investigation was ongoing, but there was “no obvious accidental cause that I know of at this time,” Ward said.
The close proximity and timeframe of the brush fires also caused investigators to take a close look, he added.
“That, in itself, is suspicious,” Ward said.
The two right lanes of the eastbound 210 Freeway were shut down Sunday afternoon as firefighters continued “mopping up” the fire, officials said.

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