Firefighters in Southern California spent Sunday battling the Bouquet Fire, a fast-moving wildfire that broke out Saturday afternoon in the Angeles National Forest northeast of Santa Clarita. By late Sunday afternoon, Cal Fire said the blaze had scorched 1,048 acres and was 40% contained — a marked improvement from zero containment on Saturday evening.
The fire ignited around 2:30 p.m. Saturday near Bouquet Canyon Road and Quarry Road and raced through chaparral and dry brush, fueled by extreme heat, dry vegetation and low humidity. An afternoon wind shift pushed the flames toward homes, prompting Cal Fire to issue evacuation orders for zones LAC-E018, LAC-E030-B and LAC-E031-A along Bouquet Canyon Road — orders that remained in place Sunday, with surrounding neighborhoods under evacuation warnings.
Los Angeles County opened a shelter for evacuees at the Castaic Sports Complex Community Room in Castaic, where small pets are welcome. Bouquet Canyon Road was closed between Spunky Canyon Road and Vasquez Canyon Road, and officials temporarily shut parts of the nearby Rowher Flat and Drinkwater off-highway vehicle areas. Helicopters and air tankers operating out of Fox Field supported ground crews through Sunday as smoke drifted over the Santa Clarita Valley, and Governor Gavin Newsom urged residents near the fire to follow evacuation orders.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The blaze arrived amid an unseasonable autumn heatwave across California that has elevated wildfire danger, with a smoke advisory in effect for the Santa Clarita Valley, the Interstate 5 corridor and the Angeles National Forest.
