Calif. Firefighters Kept Busy with Brush Fires

Firefighters in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties battled several blazes into Wednesday as wind continued to hamper efforts to bring them under total control.

Fires spread out over some 1,550 acres in parts of Southern California, coming close to a number of homes in northern Los Angeles County before being turned back. In the area of San Bernardino National Forest, campers were sent scurrying on Tuesday as flames crept close.

Backed by 15 to 20 mph winds, a brush fire in the desert town of Palmdale some 60 miles north of Los Angeles, increased to 550 acres in the early morning but was nearly half contained, according to a Los Angeles County spokesman.

An Orange County blaze increased to more than 900 acres of grassland near Chino Hills State Park. The cause of the fire was unknown but detectives reportedly want to question a trio of boys seen running from the area.

In the San Bernardino National Forest, a 100-acre fire burning in stands of trees resulted in the evacuation of 1,200 children from campgrounds on Tuesday.

To the south in San Diego County, a fire broke out Tuesday afternoon in the northern part of the county in the Palomar Mountain area and burned some 70 acres.