On Saturday, May 12, at 2:09 PM, 10 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 3 Brush Patrols, 2 LAFD Helicopters, 1 EMS Battalion Captain and 2 Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams, a total of 59 Los Angeles Fire Department personnel under the direction of Battalion Chief John Nowell responded to a Brush Fire near 11127 Orcas Avenue in Lake View Terrace.
Firefighters arrived quickly to multiple reports of smoke near Orcas Park, northeast of Hansen Dam, to discover a remote and stubborn wildfire burning in volatile brush and timber on the rugged and seasonally dry Tujunga Wash riverbottom.
Firefighters made their way through several hundred yards of thick brush and trees to flank the flames, which were effectively doused with repeated salvos of water and firefighting foam from a pair of Los Angeles Fire Department helicopters.
The fire was confined to less than one-quarter acre of vegetation and fully extinguished with handlines in just 41 minutes. No structures were threatened or damaged by flames, and there were no civilian injuries.
During the laborious overhaul and cold-trailing of the fire with power and hand tools, a 39 year-old Firefighter clad in wildland firefighter protective gear was struck in the head by a 6" diameter tree limb that fell more six feet to strike his helmeted head, neck and back.
Driven forcefully to the ground, and clearly dazed, he was immediately attended to by colleagues, who immobilized his spine, placed him in a litter basket and assisted in his transport to the Trauma Center at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was subsequently treated and released to remain off-duty.
The blaze was caused by transient’s carelessness with a cooking fire.