Containment On Towsley Fire Jumps To 17%, Remains At 167 Acres Burned

SANTA CLARITA (CBSLA) -- A Santa Clarita-area brush fire, dubbed the Towsley Fire, aggravated by strong winds was 17% contained on Wednesday evening.

The fire, which was still at 167 acres at last check, was reported at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday near the 24000 block of The Old Road, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

More than 300 firefighters were still on scene as of 3:30 p.m., officials said.

"It is still windy and we're concerned for the winds over the next day or so, however, we are starting to get a good handle on it,'' said fire department spokesman Sean Ferguson.

A red flag warning for extreme fire danger expired Tuesday night, but the National Weather Service said brief-to-critical fire weather conditions are still expected on Wednesday, with wind gusts up to 55 mph possible in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Strong winds led to nearly 290,000 Southern California Edison customers on Monday under consideration for having their power shutoff under the Public Safety Power Shutoffs program that was created to help prevent wildfires caused by downed power lines.

There were also two large trees that fell over in Santa Clarita on Tuesday -- one in the 25700 block of North Hogan Drive, and one on McBean Parkway near Granary Square -- however, no injuries were reported.

KCAL 9