TOPANGA CANYON—Firefighters extinguished a fast growing Topanga Canyon structure fire on Tuesday, October 27, in an inferno that left one injured and one animal fatality. 

At 12:52 p.m., units of the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a report of a structure fire on Old Topanga Canyon Road near Valley Drive, according to a Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness (TCEP) spokesman.

Fire officials activated the 69 Bravo Topanga Air Division after they reported the structure fire had moved to brush. 

Helicopter 22 and Helicopter 17 of the air division were rapidly deployed to the area to contend with the fire. 

Fire units snuffed out both fires by 1:22 p.m., with ground crews remaining on the scene for a final survey and clean-up of the area.

One animal fatality and one human injury were reported by fire personnel. 

Details of the accidents were not divulged in the reports. 

“Today, we had to evacuate due to a brush fire a few hundred feet from our house in Topanga,” tweeted Timothy Huber, a Topanga Canyon resident forced to evacuate the area. “2 kids, 3 dogs and 2 donkeys. That was fun,” he tweeted. “LA County did a great job of knocking it down before it spread.”

This fire is the second of Topanga Canyon fires caused directly or indirectly by strong Santa Ana winds persisting throughout Los Angeles County. These winds sharply increase the possibility of wild fire ignitions throughout the county. 

Los Angeles Emergency Management officials have declared a state of high alert, while Cal Fire, in parallel, has put red flag warnings into effect.