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A brushfire has broken out in the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, a location where thick brush crowds the San Gabriel River bed east of Montebello.
Police have closed Lincoln Avenue south of San Gabriel Boulevard, south of the Montebello Town Center. Flames have also reportedly jumped San Gabriel Boulevard near Durfee Avenue, and the county fire department battalion chief has radioed in for the Superscoopers and strike teams to be dispatched.
Update
MONTEBELLO (CNS) – Superscoopers and bulldozers were called to battle a brushfire that erupted in heavy brush in a flood control basin in Montebello, east of Los Angeles today.
The fire broke out about 1:50 p. m., a Montebello Fire Department dispatcher said. The fire apparently started near the flood control dam that straddles the San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo, north of Whittier and south of El Monte.
A huge plume of black smoke was visible from across Los Angeles and Orange counties, as heavy brush burned in the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, just southwest of the interchange of the Pomona (60) and San Gabriel Valley (605) freeways.
Lincoln Avenue and San Gabriel Boulevard were closed just east of the Montebello Town Center, and flames burned up to the 60 Freeway just west of the 605, prompting CHP officers to worry about closing the 10-lane artery.
Flames reportedly jumped San Gabriel Boulevard near Durfee Avenue Two Superscoopers assisted brushfire strike teams at the fire. The planes were skimming water from the lake at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area, according to Irwindale police.
