A brush fire erupted Tuesday evening in the Eaton Canyon area, with flames fanned by gusting Santa Ana winds quickly scarring hundreds of acres and burning multiple structures.
The fire was reported at about 6:20 p.m. in the area of Altadena Drive and Midwick Drive in the hills above Altadena, according to Cal Fire.
Initially dubbed the Close Fire but later changed to the Eaton Fire, the blaze was initially estimated at about 10 acres, but it quickly exploded across 200 acres, then to 400 acres by 8 p.m., thanks to Santa Ana winds that prompted critical fire danger warnings throughout the region.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for the area north of New York Drive, east of Altadena Drive and west of Sierra Madre Villa Avenue, the ANF reported. Authorities were working to establish an evacuation center.
It was unclear how many people were impacted by the order.
There were multiple reports of crews responding to people who were trapped within the burn area, but there were no reports of any injuries. An unknown number of structures were damaged by the flames.
Crews were also responding to protect what was described as 150 pounds of chlorine gas cylinders stored within the fire area by the Pasadena Water and Power Department.
Crews from the U.S. Forest Service, Los Angeles County and Pasadena were working to slow the flames.
The fire broke out as emergency crews were already stretched thin due to a massive blaze burning in the Pacific Palisades area.