On Saturday, known arsonist Gary Allen Lintz was arrested on suspicion of starting that day's fire. But yesterday in court, he was charged with setting all the fires in the park since July 27. The 43-year-old transient pleaded not guilty to the July fire and the multiple fires he allegedly set on August 4, 16 and 23. "The criminal complaint alleges great bodily injury to a firefighter - who was hurt while fighting the Aug.......

A small brush fire that began early last night is under investigation for the possibility of murder and arson. The fire near the Pacific Coast Highway and Topanga Canyon was first reported at 6:27 p.m. and burned three to four acres before being knocked down at 7:08 p.m., according to LA County Fire over the phone. Firefighters noticed a vehicle in the fire and upon further investigation, found a dead body inside. Calls made to......

A light grass brush fire that broke out around noon today has burned approximately 30 acres and is threatening homes in an Agoura Hills subdivision, but as of 1:45 p.m., all evacuations were mandatory. 225 to 250 firefighters were on scene. The LA County Fire Department told LAist over the phone that it is burning south of the 101 Freeway where it began near Las Virgenes and Lost Hills roads.......

After Saturday's fire, undercover arson investigators patrolling the park arrested Gary Allen Lintz, a 43-year-old Glendale transient who was already under probation for arson, according to officials. It is believed he was responsible for the series of park fires lit last week, but he was only charged for Saturday's fire when arrested. Saturday's fire burned approximately 3 acres and took around an hour to knockdown, according to the LA Times.......

Just after 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported "a small fire in Griffith Park." A knockdown was called at 2:56 p.m., according to LAFD Spokesperson d'Lisa Davies over the phone, but she did not know the acreage of the fire yet. There are also some unconfirmed reports of a possible suspect in custody, but those are just rumors at the moment. This is the fourth time a fire or fires has......

The multiple fires at Griffith Park were 100% contained at 7 PM last night, according to an alert sent out by the Los Angeles Fire Department this morning. A total of five fires on the northern side of the park began within two hours of each other yesterday afternoon burning approximately 50 acres. Arson is suspected. One firefighter was hospitalized with non-life-threatening facial injuries after being struck with hose fittings whe battling a fire.......

The brush fire in Griffith Park near Travel town, first reported at approximately 2 p.m. today, is now 60% contained and has no active hot spots, according to an LAFD alert. 300 firefighters from multiple area agencies were on scene and about 50-60 acres have burned so far. The fire is expected to be totally contained by midday tomorrow. Fortunately, there have been no injuries so far.......

The Los Angeles Fire Department is responding to a small brush fire in Griffith Park near Travel Town. Park Rangers called in the report of a fire covering "approx 3 acres of medium brush" according to d'Lisa Davies of the LAFD. On Thursday we learned that "Fire weather" was back in California, as hot, dry air is spreading up the west coast and into Canada. The California Highway Patrol soon after requested a shut down......

Hot and dry air is spreading across the West. "The jet stream is in retreat into western Canada and high pressure is building over the West, allowing the hot dry air to spread from the Desert Southwest as far north as central British Columbia and Alberta," alerted Accuweather in an e-mail. Triple digits are expected for some parts of California, but the Los Angeles area should be around 86 today and hover in the low......

Pico Blvd. was temporarily closed early this afternoon when a business, most likely a store called Furniture by Design according to Google results, lit on fire, heavily damaging the unit. It is not considered a total loss yet because the Los Angeles Fire Department considers computers and business files a major component of the term "loss," and they have had not been able to access the office area. No one was inside the building at......

Reported at 2:27 p.m. this afternoon, a grass and brush fire of about 2-3 acres in size has been reported south of the Mineral Wells Trail in the northern part of Griffith Park. Los Angeles Spokesman Brian Humphrey reports that 100 firefighters have reported to the scene and there have been no injuries, no structures threatened and no formal evacuations ordered, as of 2:54 p.m. The last fire at the park was on Sunday, July......

A fire in North Hollywood that lasted under thirty minutes last night ended with four minor injuries, two of which with firefighters. At 11:17 p.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department was called to a single family home on Whitsett Ave. near Roscoe Blvd. It took 35 firefighters 22 minutes before a knockdown was called and in the midst of all that, two firefighters sustained minor injuries when a patio fell on top of them. Two......

In the 85 years that the Los Angeles County Fire Department has been around, no woman has ever been promoted to the rank of deputy chief. Today that changes when Helen Jo will be officially promoted to chief of the department's Financial Management Division, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. She will manage the department's fire fleet services, materials management and construction and maintenance divisions, which is considered the three busiest in the department.......

Cirque Berzerk, the LA-based, all-volunteer, DIY fire-dancing, contortionist, aerial daredevil, burlesque cabaret, clown troupe debuted its new show "Beneath" at Los Angeles State Historic Park last weekend. Complete with two acts, an original score, and a ten-member live band, "Beneath" practically set the big top on fire (under supervision of the Fire Marshall, of course). Cirque Berzerk was so hot that the Thursday - Sunday run sold out by Friday night's intermission. Lucky for those......

A view of the fire yesterday in Griffith Park | (AP Photo/John Antczak) Yesterday's 25-acre brush fire in Griffith Park forced the evacuation of nearby zoo patrons as well as animals from a breeding facility, like the endangered Condors. There was a quicker-than-usual response to the fire, which was first report at about a quarter to one in the afternoon, because firefighters from Hollywood were "already deployed nearby to conduct a brush fire drill,"......

A five acre brush fire broke out near Travel Town and the LA Zoo this afternoon around 12:45 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. 32 LAFD fire companies reported to the scene with help from LA County, Burbank and Glendale fire departments totaling approximately 200 firefighters on the ground. As of 2:00 p.m. no injuries, evacuations or damaged structures were reported and a knockdown had not been declared yet. "It's not progressing in......

Like an episode of Weeds, LA City firefighters responding a warehouse fire last night in the Vermont Knolls neighborhood of South LA discovered marijuana plants as they fought the fire on the second floor of the building. Easily knocked down in 20 minutes, police investigators later found at least 50 full-grown marijuana plant and several pounds of dried product ready to ship, according to the LAPD, per KCBS. According to the media relations office at......

If you were going to Comic-Con or just heading towards San Diego, today's truck crash/fire was not helpful (should have taken the train, the Surfliner to San Diego is a beautiful and chill ride). This morning, "a Vons big rig crashed into a disabled vehicle on southbound Interstate 5 near Pulgas Road, flipped over and burst into flames... leaving all but one lane of southbound I-5 blocked for hours," according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.......

Photo by Long Beach Fire Department Two 22-year-old men have been arrested on suspicion for setting 26 fires over a two-week period which began June 30 when 14 arson fires set throughout the night and into the early morning. Officials used a surveillance tape from an AM/PM mini-mart to identify the suspects. "There were fires found in trashcans and dumpsters, fires caused by placing combustibles, such as old mattresses against garage doors. There were......

It was a normal day on Twitter. New Media and Interactive Consultant Kyra Reed was going about her day (it was Reed who turned The Roxy into a Web 2.0 success story). On Twitter, she chatted with friends as she was at home. Then, all of the sudden at 5:02 p.m., Ron Myers at the Los Angeles Fire Department tweets a structure fire on the 1000 block of Laguna Ave. "Single family home with fire......

Expected rain today could bring flooding to mountain areas that are recovering from recent wildfires. "The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch from noon to this evening for Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles county mountain areas, excluding the Santa Monica range, and for the Antelope Valley," reports the LA Times.......

Photo by fauxen via Flickr As weather in Los Angeles is still normal, Central and Northern California could be in for another round of dry lightning storms. There are two areas of thunderstorms across the West over the next day or two that have potential to create new wildfires over California. "The combination of hot air and relatively high dew point temperatures will allow a few thunderstorms to erupt over the Sierra Nevada of......

AP Photo/The Los Angeles Times, Spencer Weiner Blackwater might be a more appropriate name for the future of some private firefighting business. Robert at Calitics has been looking into federal firefighter shortages during the recent spate of wildfires (over 1700 in total since June 20). He reports that there have been "deliberate staffing shortages have left the USFS [US Forest Service] unable to do vital off-season brush clearance, and left them without the staffing......

A firefighter continue to clear brush from the path of the gap fire on Sunday July 6, 2008 (AP Photo/ LA Times, Spencer Weiner) With another spike in temperatures on its way, firefighters may not have as much help as they did this weekend with the cooler weather with its moist air currents. 100+ degree weather will take over starting today in the San Fernando Valley. Up north in Santa Barbara County near Goleta,......

Los Angeles County firefighters putting out the fire in Malibu on 4th of July (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas) Yesterday's wildfire in Malibu charred 25 acres before LA County Firefighters were able to full contain it at 8:14 p.m. The fire, which started at 3:27 p.m. in a mobile home park near Las Virgenes Street and Las Virgenes Canyon Road, was knocked down but had quickly spread to nearby brush, prompting more than 200 campers at......

Reports are coming in about firs in the Los Angeles area. At about 3:30, a fire broke out at mobile home near a state park in Malibu Creek State Park. While the home fire was knocked down, the fire has spread to hillside brush and has at least burned through 10 acres. Park visitors have been evacuated. Update: As of 6:43 p.m., the fire had burned 20 acres and was at 90% containment. "Hopefully within......

If a huge fire forcing 1700 homes to be evacuated wasn't enough, now residents of Goleta are being asked to conserve energy until 5:00 p.m. tonight. "A regional manager with energy company Southern California Edison, Cathy Hart, said it is inevitable more power lines will be burned by the Gap Fire," KSBY reports. "If residents keep stress off the system, outages could be kept to a minimum, Hart said." Last night, about 40,000 customers lost......

70 miles east of Los Angeles in the San Bernardino National Forest, a fire, dubbed the Ridge Fire, that broke out at 1:30 p.m. has already burned at least 100 acres. Over a 1700 fires have burned throughout the state in the past few weeks, but few have hit Southern California. The closest major fire is the Gap Fire in Goleta, which has burned 2400 acres so far forcing Santa Barbara County officials to declare......

A fire ripped through an empty for-sale house this morning destroying it and damaging two neighboring others at 21110 Pacific Coast Hwy. prompting an entire closure of the highway (lanes reopened at 7:20 a.m.). The house was being sold for $1-million dollars, but six people were evacuated with no injuries from the two houses. No cause has been determined yet, but thankfully, this fire did not start off another wildfire.......

A wildfire erupted last night in Goleta, eight miles Northwest of Santa Barbara. It began in the Los Padres National Forest forcing mandatory evacuations of about 40 homes. Yesterday, a small fire was knocked down in the Canyon Country neighborhood of Santa Clarita and nearby in Agua Dulce, a truck caught fire on the Northbound 14 Freeway, but was quickly doused before it could spread to surrounding brush.......