San Fernando Valley residents, if you hear an alarming boom tomorrow around 6:30am, rest assured it's just a controlled alternative energy plant explosion. Tanks full of compressed hydrogen at a fire-ravaged energy plant in Sylmar are too dangerous to transport and will be blown up on Sunday morning. The blast will require a temporary closure of a portion of the Foothill (210) Freeway. more ›

What is being described as a "thunderous explosion," according to the Los Angeles Fire Department, ripped through a Sylmar business in a commercial area late yesterday afternoon, tearing the roof off the building and leaving three men injured, per a news release. more ›

A Sylmar man who allegedly ran over his father and brother with an SUV was charged today with murder, reports KCBS. Martin Martinez, 26, had reportedly been arguing with family members about a lost dog and a broken door on Tuesday evening. The fight had come to blows and spilled outside, at which point Martinez is accused of getting in the SUV and driving into both men. more ›

LAPD K-9 Officer Steven Jenkins was released from the hospital in time to spend Easter with his family after being critically injured in a SWAT standoff at a home in Sylmar earlier this month, reports a department press release. more ›

An LAPD officer is in critical condition after being shot in the face early this morning while responding to a domestic violence call in Sylmar. A SWAT standoff is ongoing and the bomb squad is on the scene as the suspect remains barricaded inside his house, according to police, reports KTLA. more ›

A tip provided to narcotics detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill division prompted officers to raid a Sylmar home early this morning, seizing weapons and stolen property, and busting a methamphetamine lab operation, according to LA Now. more ›

A Korean foreign exchange student has died following a fight with a classmate at Sylmar's First Lutheran High School. The Los Angeles Police Department explain that the squabble began on Tuesday afternoon as a verbal dispute regarding cultural differences that turned into a physical fight that proved fatal. more ›

Fresh & Eash, the grocery store that wants to eventually be a dominating force with a location in every neighborhood, has announced a slew of news spots, including its 100th in California. Nine of them will open in September with four of them located in the Los Angeles region. more ›

Earlier plans for the California's High Speed Rail called for two stations in the San Fernando Valley -- one in Sylmar and another in Glendale or Burbank. At first, HSR planners were looking at station locations in downtown Burbank, but city officials there balked, wanting consideration of a station at Burbank Airport. Now it appears planners are all about that airport station as the only station in the Valley, reported the Burbank Leader last week. The news left HSR blogger Robert Cruickshank with many questions, including this one: "Is Burbank Airport equipped to handle the ridership that HSR might bring?" He also noted that the Valley, "with a population of 1.76 million, would seem capable of supporting two stations." more ›

A crash between an LAPD cruiser and a vehicle last night in the Northeast Valley left a 27-year-old woman dead. According an LAPD alert, Jovanna Janet Lugo was making a U-turn, mid block on Glenoaks Boulevard south of Dyer Street in Sylmar, when the collision occurred. A black and white cruiser with two officers were traveling northbound on Glenoaks when they hit Lugo's Corolla during her U-turn. The two officers suffered moderate injuries, police said. more ›

Wilson Canyon is located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains just above Sylmar, and has re-opened following last year's damaging wildfires just in time for something else wild: wildflowers. more ›

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The Sayre Fire broke out late in the night on November 14th, 2008, and burned for several days in the Northeast San Fernando Valley and into Santa Clarita, ravaging across thousands of acres and destroying nearly 500 homes in the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar alone. This community became emblematic of the Sayre Fire; officials like Mayor Villaraigosa and Governor Schwarzenegger addressed the scared residents while speaking to the media, authorities worked diligently to account for all the residents, and many wondered if poor water pressure could have contributed to the high number of homes lost. more ›

After a few months of hibernating, the golf clubs in this my closet begged to be taken out for a little fresh air. So spurred on by Tiger Woods’ return to the fairways, and even more so by the pleading, golf-addicted husband, I dusted off the clubs and found the Footjoys. It was time to play. more ›

The storm that soaked Southern California yesterday brought soggy hillsides down in some areas, and more rain is on the way today. The mud came sliding down in two separate locations in Sylmar last night, and a third mudslide was reported in Sierra Madre. more ›

At the family Christmas Eve party, the ex-sister-in-law of Santa shooter Bruce Jeffrey Pardo made it out of her parents' Covina house alive with her injured daughter who was shot in the head--luckily with a non life-threatening injury. more ›

Earlier suspicions that a ninth body could be inside the scene of a mass murder in Covina has been confirmed, the Chicago Tribune confirms. A man dressed as Santa Claus walked into his ex-in-laws home on Christmas Eve and began shooting before lighting the place on fire. He was later found dead after he apparently committed suicide at his brother's home in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles. UPDATE: Now the coroner's office is saying they will not confirm the ninth body. A 2 p.m. press conference is expected to update the press on what's going on. more ›

Sad. Clad in a Santa Suit on Christmas Eve, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo arrived at his ex-wife parent's Covina home and shot and killed at least eight people. Here's how it played out, as described by the LA Times: more ›

The Sayre Fire destroyed 489 homes and all but nine were at the Oak Ridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar. Just like in Yorba Linda, residents are questioning the hearsay low water pressure. If that is indeed true and water pressure was higher, could homes have been saved? more ›

The LAPD announced yesterday, "with a high degree of confidence," that all residents from the Oakridge Mobile Home Park safely escaped the Sayre Fire, which destroyed 479 homes in the Sylmar neighborhood. "While this was abundantly good news and a testament to the bravery of a number good neighbors and members of the Police and Fire Departments, it does not fully relieve the Police Department of the responsibility for a proper accounting of all evacuees," the LAPD said in a statement this morning. more ›

The Sayre and Triangle Complex Fires in the Los Angeles area are still burning, but firefighters are gaining the upperhand. more ›

The tally of damage from the Triangle Complex Fire has increased from 120 lost structures reported this morning to 259 destroyed structures in areas including Corona, Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills, according to KCAL9 on-air news. The blaze, that hit parts of Orange, Riverside San Bernadino and LA counties, is still 40% contained with 29,000 acres burned. Officials are saying that it was possibly caused by a spark from a passing by car. more ›

The Red Flag was called off last night as "fire perfect" weather began to lessen, making it harder for blazes to spread with ease. The conflagrations still burn, however, daily life in the region is getting back to normal this morning. TV News is no longer wall-to-wall breaking news, Metrolink trains are back in operation and freeway closures are few and far between. more ›

As the Sayre Fire moves northward further into the Santa Clarita Valley and in Placerita Canyon, there is some good news for residents of the San Fernando Valley affected by the blaze. more ›

Following remarks made by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just before 10 o'clock this morning, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke at a press conference held at Hansen Dam regarding the Sayre Fire. more ›

The fire that tore through the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar left total devastation in its wake. According to LAFD Captain Steve Ruda, who spoke to evacuees gathered at Sylmar High School this morning, almost all of the approximately 600 homes in the community were burned to the ground. The Sayre Fire began at 10:30 Friday night and has burned at least 6500 acres and remains far from being contained. The LAPD now considers the Oakridge Mobile Home Park a "crime scene."
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Short pieces of video footage captured of the Sayre Fire, which began to rage in the Sylmar area late last night, have already made their way to YouTube. more ›

The Oakridge Mobile Home Park at Glenoaks and the 210 Freeway in Sylmar has now been labeled a crime scene by the Los Angeles Police Department. According to a live broadcast on KABC-7, the LAPD have just ordered all media personnel out of the area and are focusing on their investigation. They have not made any indication as to the nature of the crime being investigated at the mobile home community or its affiliation, if any, with the Sayre fire. LAFD Captain Steve Ruda spoke to the neighborhood's evacuees gathered at the evacuation center at Sylmar High School at around 10:30 this morning. more ›

Los Angeles City Fire Department Captain Steve Ruda began his address to the evacuees, volunteers, and members of the press gathered this morning at Sylmar High School by admitting "I don't have good news." more ›

The wildfire that began late last night in Sylmar (13000 Sayre Street) has now grown to be at least 2600 acres, and has destroyed an as-of-yet undetermined number of homes and structures. Many local freeways remain shut down as the firefight continues. Currently there is one civilian who has been reported with major burns, and a few others with minor injuries. Evacuation centers are set up at Sylmar, San Fernando, Kennedy, and Chatsworth High Schools, and there are two major mandatory evacuation areas. Pierce College and the Hansen Dam are able to take in large animals from evacuees. Residents are being urged to gather up important documents, medication, and irreplaceable items such as photo albums and to leave their homes when asked, with the doors and gates unlocked so that firefighters can access the property as needed. more ›