Firefighters Hit Fire in California Canyon

Oct. 07--CRESTLINE -- Fire crews from three agencies pulled resources together to get a blaze near here under control Sunday night.

The blaze erupted around 5:30 p.m. in a canyon, burning underbrush and chaparral, fire officials said.

"The fire has been calculated at 3.5 acres and is at 50 percent containment," said Cal Fire spokesman Glenn Barley on Sunday evening. "Cal Fire, U.S. Forest Service and San Bernardino County Fire all responded to this event, working together to keep it under control."

This area of Crestline has a history that some never want to relive.

"This fire started near Playground Drive in Crestline," Barley said. "It's the same place where the Playground Fire started 10 years ago this month."

The Playground Fire of 2003 eventually intertwined with the Old Fire, which burned 91,281 acres in the San Bernardino Mountains and cost five people their lives, according to authorities.

The Old Fire, which started on Oct. 25, 2003, near Waterman Canyon, destroyed more than 1,000 structures and cost nearly $38 million to fight. The man convicted of starting the Old Fire, Rickie Lee Fowler, was sentenced to death and is in state prison, but some people were alarmed when they heard a fire had started near Playground Drive 10 years later.

"I wasn't sure if it was an accident or someone else had started a fire to avenge Fowler," said Michael Newsome. "I'm here visiting my sister who was evacuated ten years ago. It's one hell of a coincidence that another fire started in the exact same area."

Copyright 2013 - San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.