UPDATE at 8:54 a.m.: Inspector Johnson of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said that the fire is being seen as accidental, the result of someone's efforts to clear out brush. There was no further information available on who was clearing the brush.
The lack of high winds and the damp hangover from Sunday morning rain also helped contribute to the relatively quick containment of the fire, added Inspector Don Kumitomi.
"The soil was still kind of wet, and some of the plants still had water," he said. "With three helicopters dropping water on the head of the fire, we were able to stop it when it went up to a ridge, near some water tanks."
Yesterday: A brush fire burning above the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge was contained Monday afternoon. In total, the burn area was 3 acres, according to Inspector Quvondo Johnson of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The call about the fire came in around 12:30 p.m., and firefighters were on scene within 15 minutes, he said.
Highland Park resident Patricia Moore and her children were among dozens of people watching the department do its work against the fire.
"My kids go to school at Odyssey, just nearby" she said. "I saw the smoke ... I was driving by on the 210 and said, 'Holy ... '"
