Millard Fire in Altadena declared 100% contained

ALTADENA – Two popular trailheads were forced to close on Friday morning, July 28, as crews “mopped up” the remains of the Millard Fire, which burned two acres of vegetation in the Angeles National Forest north of Altadena Thursday afternoon, prompting some nervous moments.

Officials said the Cobb Estates trailhead and the Sam Merill trailhead were closed as crews cleared the area, but they have since reopened, Forest Service officials said.

Both are popular hiking spots at the base of the San Gabriels in Altadena, near Lake Avenue and East Loma Alta Drive.

The fire was reported around 5 p.m., according to a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman. By 9 p.m. it was 50% contained and the U.S. Forest Service said on Friday that it was 100% contained after consuming 2 acres, according to a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

There were no reports of any injuries, and the cause of the fire was under investigation.

But in a time of scorching heat and elevated fire danger, the blaze at the base of the Altadena foothills, where residential neighborhoods co-exist windy trails and hiking enthusiasts, drew attention as firefighters worked furiously to knock it down.

Shortly before 5 p.m. on Thursday evening, flames formed at the base of a ridge at the Cobb Estate hiking area, in Altadena, close to the nearby homes on Lake Avenue. By 5:04, hikers had called 9-1-1. By 5:19, helicopters were heard flying overhead. Soon, an LA County Firehawk helicopter touched down in a nearby clearing and a “hot shot” crew from L.A. County Fire Department’s Camp 9 disembarked toward the inferno. The crew soon began attacking the fire on the ground while helicopters roared overhead, dropping thousands of gallons of water on the blaze. Plumes of white smoke could be seen from the cities below.

Soon, ground crews from the US Forest Service Angeles National Forest, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Pasadena City Fire Department and Glendale City Fire Department converged on the scene to douse the fire and cut a “fuel break” around the perimeter of the flames in an effort to halt their progress. Less than an hour after the blaze was first reported, the hot shot crew had been flown in, fought the fire, handed the blaze off to the ground crews, and were loading back onto the Firehawk that had dropped them off.

“Doesn’t matter what the patch on the shirt looks like,” explained Deputy Fire Chief Angeles National Forest Matt Conklin. “We’re all doing the same mission and providing the same efforts towards containment of the fire.”

By the time the fire was contained it had left a blackened scar across two acres of trail and foliage.

Nearby resident Max Yasuda, was alerted to the fire when his neighbor texted him shortly after 5 p.m.

“I went up on the roof and saw smoke,” Yasuda recalled.

“At 5:19 I heard helicopters, so it was an extremely fast response. And by 5:30 I believe they were dropping the first bucketloads of water.”

Yasuda was close enough to watch the flames creep up the ridgeline.

“I could hear the fire when it would flare up,” he explained.

“It was like a whoosh. Kind of like if you open the door to a woodfire stove.”

Yasuda was relatively unphased by the fire after experiencing a similar blaze in February of 2022 in the same park, closer to his and his neighbors’ homes.

“That was scarier because the flames were a little more visible,” Yasuda regaled.

“So I’m a little acclimated.”

By sheer luck, Thursday’s fire struck when there was very little wind to coax it further and faster. Yasuda said that he couldn’t smell any smoke even though he was less than half a mile from the inferno.

Given that lightning would be the only natural cause of a fire in the area, this blaze’s origin was undoubtedly unnatural, fire officials said.

“This is human caused,” Chief Conklin said. “Now is that equipment use, is it a warming fire, a cooking fire, kids playing with matches? We don’t know yet.”

Fire crews worked into the night to ensure that every ember was raked into the dirt. The U.S. Forest Service Angeles National Forest, which oversees the land, will evaluate when the trail is again safe for hikers.

“The trail will be opened back up to the public and we just encourage that they be cautious when they’re walking around this area,” Conklin said.

According to Conklin, fire season in Southern California begins as early as mid-May and runs as late as December, so there are still five months of potential peril awaiting the region.