Firefighters snuff Diamond Bar blaze; portion of northbound 57 Freeway reopened

Firefighters gained the upper hand on two brush fires in the hills next to the 57 Freeway in Diamond Bar on Wednesday morning. The fires had burned a combined 15 acres and were fully contained as of 10 a.m., authorities said.

No one was injured and no structures were damaged, authorities said.

“We’ll be on scene throughout the morning … extinguishing hot spots, checking for any flareups,” said Randall Wright of the L.A. County Fire Department.

Authorities shut down a portion of the northbound lanes of the freeway overnight. Two lanes of the northbound 57 had been reopened from Lambert Road to Diamond Bar Boulevard as of 10 a.m., said California Highway Patrol Officer Peter Nicholson.

Four small fires were reported at about 2:20 a.m. along the hillside next to the northbound freeway, said Ed Pickett of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Firefighters arrived to find two fires — one about 10 acres and the second about five acres, he said. About 100 firefighters from Orange and Los Angeles counties were battling the flames and four helicopters were doing water drops, Pickett said.

Firefighters faced light winds and the fires were moving very slowly, Pickett said early Wednesday morning.

Traffic is backed up on the southbound 57 Freeway between Diamond Bar and Brea because of the fires.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

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UPDATES:

10:10 a.m.: This article was updated with officials reporting the fires fully contained.

8 a.m.: This article was updated with the fires 70% contained.

7:45 a.m.: This article was updated with the latest traffic information.

This article was originally published at 5:55 a.m.