Crime & Safety
Cigar-smoking Teen Ignites Mandeville Canyon Fire
The fire began around 4 p.m. Monday, burning approximately 40 acres by Wednesday morning and came within several feet of area homes.
A 15-year-old male resident's lit cigar was the cause of the Mandeville Canyon fire in the Sepulveda Pass area. The blaze is now 100 percent contained with no injuries or structural damage reported, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The blaze began and burned by Wednesday afternoon.
“The child was smoking a cigar, so it was an accident. It wasn’t malicious or intentional,” said Robert Franco, assistant fire chief and incident commander for Mandeville Canyon Fire. “So we counseled the child and we had a conversation with the parents and I think we have that end of it pretty well taken care of.”
The fire began right behind the home where the teen lives on the east side of the 3600 block of Mandeville Canyon Road. The initial fire came within 15 to 20 feet of the homes on that side of the street, Franco said.
“There was some danger to those homes initially, but within a half hour we got our first units on the scene. Then the fire moved away from the homes and we were able to stop it,” Franco said. “There was never a mandatory evacuation, but some people did leave as a precautionary measure.”
Two firefighters suffered heat related injuries and were transported to the hospital in fair to serious condition.
Ann Snyder lives across the street from the area where the fire broke out and said waiting for fire trucks to arrive was “terrifying.”
“We have a 15-minute interval before fire trucks can even make it up this road,” Snyder said. “We have to be responsible in how we address fires in our community.”
With her home out of immediate danger, Snyder dragged her hose across the street to water down a neighbor’s roof since the residents were not there at the time.
“Each of us has fire hoses and we all know how to turn on each other’s sprinklers,” Snyder said.
Snyder’s neighbors across the street had recently moved in. The first thing they did after taking up residence was clear brush within 200 feet of their home, even though that included a steep incline, Snyder said.
“They were very, very diligent in their brush clearance,” she said. “Because of that firefighters were able to save those two homes where the fire started.”
Firefighters were thorough in digging out hot spots to ensure that when the wind picks up there won't be any flareups, Franco said.
The Mandeville Canyon area is an extremely dangerous place to have a fire, according to LAFD Battalion Chief Gerry Malais.
“This canyon is seven miles long with one way in and out,” Malais said. “If we had to evacuate the residents because the fire was sweeping down the canyon, it would be very difficult to get them all out and get fire resources in.”
