Crews

Glendale Public Works crews on Friday worked to repair a four-foot-deep sinkhole on Glenoaks Boulevard near Grandview Avenue, officials said. City spokesman Tom Lornez said the reason for the sinkhole, which was reported in the roadway's middle lane at about 1:30 p.m., would not be known until crews dig it up. The roadway remained partially closed while crews used heavy equipment to repair the hole. -- Veronica Rocha, Times Community News Follow Veronica on Twitter and Google+

Glendale Water & Power officials staged a 12-hour water outage in North Glendale Wednesday as crews installed new underground pipes. The outage, which was scheduled to last from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., affected 193 housing units, most of them apartments or condominiums, near the intersection of Campbell and Stocker streets. Crews were stationed around the area to monitor water flow and pressure at nearby fire hydrants. A water station was set up at the intersection of Campbell and Stocker for affected residents.

A failed relay unit located near a main transformer is to blame for knocking out the power at Glendale Community College on two separate days over a weeklong period, official said Thursday. Electricians were able to repair the equipment Wednesday night after power outages forced administrators to close the campus Nov. 30 and Dec. 5. After turning students away on Wednesday, school resumed Thursday morning after electricians brought the power back after 8 p.m. Wednesday night.

Fred Ortega Montrose Search and Rescue crews found the skeletonized remains of a human near the site of a car wreck off the Angeles Crest highway, officials with the Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station said Friday. Authorities were first alerted to the wreck, located about 11 miles north of La Canada Flintridge, by the Sheriff's Department's Air Rescue 5 helicopter at about 12:30 p.m. as it headed toward a base in the Angeles National Forest on a routine flight, said Mike Leum, operations leader for the Montrose Search and Rescue Team.

Police on Tuesday remained uncertain if small knife blades found at a Newport Beach park were placed there deliberately. Crews sifting through the sand Monday found two more blades, bringing the total to 15 blades found at a Bonita Canyon park, where a 5-year-old child stepped on a blade Saturday morning. The blade did not break skin on the child's foot, and he was not injured, said Sgt. Bill Hartford. Police and grounds crews swept the entire playground with a metal detector.

Repair crews said Thursday that they had reconnected more than half of the telephone lines that were severed this week in West Newport, and that they expected to have the job finished by late today. After construction workers from Professional Electrical Contractors cut through three underground cables Tuesday morning -- the cause of the event is still disputed -- crews from the SBC telephone company began working around the clock to reconnect the wires.

GLENDALE ? The corpse of an unidentified man was pulled from a hillside behind homes in north Glendale on Thursday. A construction crew working on a house on Maginn Drive contacted the Glendale Fire Department at about 5 p.m. and reported that they saw a body in the vegetation laying face up near the foot of the hills, Glendale Police Department Officer John Balian said. Fire crews responding to the call used chain saws to cut their way through the brush, discovering the body of a deceased adult male who appeared to have slid down from the top of the hillside, Fire Capt.

As construction crews continue to expand six foothill debris basins in preparation for next year's storms, Los Angeles County officials today are expected to allocate hundreds of thousands more for additional construction projects. Earlier this month, crews contracted by Los Angeles County began a $1-million expansion of the Pickens, Snover, Big Briar, Mullally, Pinelawn and Starfall debris basins. The work is slated to continue through October. County officials have said the expansion should help prevent the devastation that occurred in February when the Mullaly Debris Basin overflowed, sending mud and debris that severely damaged homes in La Cañada's Paradise Valley neighborhood.

Darleene Barrientos Another $170 will have to go toward repairing a wall blighted by a spray-painted message that Ampco Parking attendants found last week, the second incident of graffiti on the same wall in about a week. The wall, at 127 Burchett St., is next to Conrad's Restaurant. Ampco Parking manager Diana Sanchez said Ampco will have to pay to have the wall, marked by graffiti measuring 5-by-10 feet, repaired. "It got me upset, but, oh well.

Amid warnings of possible rock slides and other debris, motorists Tuesday took full advantage of the newly reopened Angeles Crest (2) Highway, which was closed during the Station fire. For months, Los Angeles County and state transportation crews worked to shore up steep road shoulders and other areas against possible landslides since the Station fire stripped the hillsides of rock-shoring vegetation. Crews also had to replace road signs, re-strip damaged pavement and clear debris catch basins.

Firefighters extinguished a one-acre grass fire near the Golden State (5) Freeway at the Ventura (134) Freeway interchange on Tuesday that briefly stopped traffic. Crews from four fire companies, including Glendale and Los Angeles, attacked the blaze, which was reported about 1:25 p.m., said Katherine Main, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman. The blaze was extinguished about 30 minutes later. The northbound 5 Freeway transition to the westbound 134 Freeway was briefly shut down as fire crews worked to extinguish the blaze, she said.

Crews were able to restore electricity to more than 800 Glendale Water & Power customers Monday afternoon after fixing a blown fuse, officials said. The outage, reported at 1:06 p.m. in the neighborhoods surrounding the Oakmont Country Club, located at 3100 Country Club Drive, was restored about 1:40 p.m. The National Weather Service warned of damaging high winds with the potential for gusts of up to 60 mph throughout Los Angeles County's lower elevations. According the weather service, the winds will be powerful enough to topple trees, branches and power lines.

A failed relay unit located near a main transformer is to blame for knocking out the power at Glendale Community College on two separate days over a weeklong period, official said Thursday. Electricians were able to repair the equipment Wednesday night after power outages forced administrators to close the campus Nov. 30 and Dec. 5. After turning students away on Wednesday, school resumed Thursday morning after electricians brought the power back after 8 p.m. Wednesday night.

Firefighters are responding to a brush fire in the hills above the Ventura (134) Freeway, just east of the Glendale (2) Freeway, officials said. The fire was reported about 10:48 a.m. in the hills on the opposite side of Glenoaks Canyon, officials said. Homes in the area are not being evacuated yet, fire officials said. [Updated 11:16 a.m.: Residents on Sleepy Hollow Drive in Glenoaks Canyon are being prepared for possible evacuation, city spokesman Tom Lorenz said. ]

Glendale Public Works crews on Friday worked to repair a four-foot-deep sinkhole on Glenoaks Boulevard near Grandview Avenue, officials said. City spokesman Tom Lornez said the reason for the sinkhole, which was reported in the roadway's middle lane at about 1:30 p.m., would not be known until crews dig it up. The roadway remained partially closed while crews used heavy equipment to repair the hole. -- Veronica Rocha, Times Community News Follow Veronica on Twitter and Google+

Fire crews extinguished a two-acre brush fire Friday off the northbound Glendale (2) Freeway, near Mountain Street. The blaze began burning shortly after noon on a hillside off the freeway, and was put out approximately an hour later due a large response, including two water-dropping helicopters, two Los Angeles City Fire hand crews and 20 engines from Los Angeles and Glendale, authorities said. Glendale Fire Capt. Cody Smith said the fire was close to homes, but firefighters were stationed near the residential neighborhoods and no structures were damaged.

Fire crews rescued a hiker Monday night after he veered off the trails in Brand Park and got lost in heavy brush, officials said. The hiker hit the trails earlier that evening, but he began trekking off the path and was unable to find his way back, said Glendale Fire Battalion Chief Greg Godfrey. At that point, he used his cellphone to call for help. “It took us a couple of hours to find him,” Godfrey said. The hiker was crawling on his hands and knees through thick brush, which made it difficult for rescuers to find him. The brush was so thick that even thermal imaging was rendered ineffective, Godfrey said.

Street closures in Burbank that were prompted by a diesel spill this morning will likely remain in place for most of the day after officials discovered that fuel had entered the storm drain. Burbank police closed streets around Alameda at Buena Vista Street just before 8 a.m. to clean up the 150-gallon spill, but Los Angeles County HazMat crews have since been called in to assist after it breached the county storm drain system. [Updated 12:35 p.m.: At about 6:45 a.m., a truck was delivering fuel to a Los Angeles fire station when its “mechanical drive shaft broke, causing damage to the off load pipe that unloads fuel from the truck,” Burbank Police Sgt. Darin Ryburn said.

 A 70-year-old man was taken to a local hospital Wednesday morning after he passed out while hiking in the Verdugo Mountains, officials said. The man, whose identity wasn't released, was hiking with a woman about 9:22 a.m. when he became unconscious atop a mountain ridge behind Brand Park on the 1600 block of Mountain Street, officials said. The woman began screaming for help, prompting a flurry of calls to Glendale police from other hikers concerned about her well being. Witnesses reported hearing her screams and seeing someone in a black hooded sweatshirt exit the mountain trails, Glendale Police Lt. Brian Cohen said.

Public works crews Thursday night were able to remove a 100-foot pine tree that fell across the 3300 block of Burritt Way in North Glendale earlier that day, city spokesman Tom Lorenz said. Strong wind gusts on Thursday uprooted the large pine tree, damaging gas lines and forcing the temporary evacuation of four homes. No injuries were reported in the incident, which occurred near New York Avenue. A high wind warning remains in effect for local valleys and mountain passes until 3 p.m. today, with the National Weather Service warning that strong gusts of up to 45 mph are still possible as Santa Ana winds start subsiding.